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  • Country ranking ?

    165
  • Producer ranking ?

    6
  • Decanting time

    -
  • When to drink

  • Food Pairing

    Beef

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The Story

Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou is named after the beautiful, large stones found in its unique wine-growing terroir. This exceptional ecosystem produces fine, elegant, tasty wines, with a long finish – in short, archetypal Saint-Julien wines.

Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the centre of a hundred-year-old park, Ducru-Beaucaillou is a majestic, Victorian-style castle, which has, over time, become one of the great symbols of the Médoc. Unusually for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years, in the sumptuous aromas of their wine.

Today, the estate is managed by the company Jean Eugène Borie SA, which is owned by Mrs Borie, her daughter Sabine Coiffe and her son Bruno-Eugène, CEO since 2003, the third generation of the Borie family to head the estate.

There are very close links between this estate and the five families who have been its successive owners.

The grapes are all harvested manually. They are sorted in the vines on mobile tables to avoid contact between unhealthy and healthy grapes during transport to the vat room.The vinification of each plot is done individually to optimise the choice of blends. Moreover, the fermentations are carried out separately and customized to take account of terroir, grape variety and vintage characteristics. We generally operate gentle extraction and keep the must at traditional temperatures with moderate lengths and frequencies of pumping-over.The press drains off continuously into barrels to facilitate the selection of the press-wine batches. Malolactic fermentation is managed in vats for optimal control.

The wine is barrelled in duly identified individual batches immediately after malolactic fermentation. Blending takes place during the first racking operation; for Ducru Beaucaillou, between 50 and 80% of new barrels are used according to the richness of the vintage. The barrels (225L Bordeaux barrels, French oak) are supplied by 5 carefully selected cooperages giving every guarantee. The wine is matured for 18 months in accordance with Medoc traditions for classified growths. Bottling is performed with special care in regard to both oenological controls and homogenisation of the overall batch. The 5 cork makers supplying the estate have signed a detailed and stringent quality charter. 

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Vintage 2020

In Bordeaux, the heat led to early flowering. Additionally, this led to an early harvest after a very hot summer. As a starting point, there is great maturity in the grapes, and we can expect a more opulent vintage than in recent years.

This year's summer was the hottest since 1959, but the rain fell at just the right time during the growing season. The harvest took place two weeks before the norm and will produce grapes with high alcohol potential and the lowest acidity since the 2003 vintage. As they say in Bordeaux: “It was a good and extreme growing season which , hopefully, also produces great wines.”

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

Opaque colour with an explosion of rich black fruits, crushed gravel, exotic oak spices and a floral perfume. This wine possesses a tight structure with layered, silky tannins, great precision and breadth of flavours, underpinned by superb freshness. Very elegantly composed, with perfectly mastered power. Great finish, the flavours perfume the palate with endless persistence.

To add to the glorious 2018 & 2019, Ducru Beaucaillou marks its 300th anniversary with the richest wine in its history. The warm climatic conditions suit it well, allowing Ducru Beaucaillou to assert with great depth its aristocratic elegance.

The style of 2020 is reminiscent of the academic 2010 but with a higher concentration of flavours and greater density of anthocyanins and tannins, underlined with the Ducru’s trademark freshness, giving an exquisite, succulent texture.

2020  Château Ducru-Beaucaillou St. Julien Richly colored, the wine delivers a complex nose of cigar box, tobacco leaf, wet forest floor, camphor, red and black currants, blackberry and creme de cassis. Supple, sensuous, elegant and concentrated, the wine focuses on its refined character, purity of fruit and silky textures. Long, vibrant and incredibly refined, the finish builds as it lingers. This gem should start to really unfurl after its 10th birthday and provide fabulous drinking for 25-35 years after that. Not as powerful as some recent vintages, instead this is a stunningly graceful Ducru Beaucaillou. Produced from blending 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot, 13.5% ABV. Picking took place September 11 - September 30. Yields were low at close to 30 hectoliters per hectare. 97-99  Pts

  • 99p

A blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot, brought up in new oak, the 2020 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou offers a gorgeously pure nose of crème de cassis, graphite, crushed stone, toasty oak, and lead pencil shavings. Full-bodied, concentrated, and structured, it reminds me of a hypothetical mix of the 2010 and 2016, offering serious concentration paired with a gorgeous sense of precision and purity. It's going to take a decade of cellaring to hit the early stages of maturity (it will have some up-front appeal if you're interested) yet evolve for 50 years or more. Along with the Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, it might be the wine of the vintage from the Médoc.
Barrel Sample: 97-99

  • 99p

Ducru Beaucaillou CC - 81% Cabernet Sauvignon + 19% Merlot. 13.5% alcohol. Very classic for the commune, dense and tight, refined, finesse, sophisticated, riveting structure and spectacular complexity. Luscious fruit and exquisitely grained tannin on midpalate, perfect balance. Classy and stylish. It is slightly under the extraordinary 2018 in performance, but I won’t be surprised if it will be better after ageing and bottling. 98+p.

  • 98p

Dark purple colour with violet hue and black core. A very sophisticated and well built wine. Expressive nose with great aromatic complexity, very elegant perfume reminiscent of crushed gravel, pencil shavings, fresh elderberries, blackcurrants, mulberries, hints of mild spices, gingerbread, very discreet oriental spices. On the palate excellent balance and aromatic depth, elegant and persistent with flavours of graphite, ripe juicy berries, hints of mint in the background. A wine with great freshness and excellent length, finesse and precision. 

  • 98p
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Origin

St.Julien, Bordeaux
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