1990 | Château Beauséjour | Duffau-Lagarrosse

Opulent, lush, flamboyant, showing and rich, from start to finish this had it all going on. Intensely concentrated, with layers of dark red plums, black cherries, thyme, crushed rocks and flowers, the wine coats your palate and seamlessly lingers.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: One of the most singular Bordeaux I have ever tasted, it verges on being port-like, but it pulls back because of the extraordinary minerality and laser-like focus. The wine is massively concentrated, still black/purple-hued to the rim, and offers a nose of incense, blackberries, blueberry liqueur, acacia flowers, and forest floor. It reveals low acidity and high tannins, which are largely concealed by the sheer concentration and lavish glycerin the wine possesses.

• James Suckling: Parker made this wine a legend when he gave it 100 points on release. And I have had perfect bottles in my life of it. BTW, the 1989 is almost as good. This bottle that I had this week in Hong Kong was very, very closed and not giving the opulent character that I have encountered in this wine. It had been decanted three hours in advance and I still triple decanted it after tasting it because it was so shy on the palate. The 1990 Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse seems to be going through a dumb period right now but it shows some fascinating dried fruit, mushroom and earth character.

Producer Information

Château Beauséjour - Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse is a Saint-Emilion wine estate classified as a Premier Grand Cru Classé B in the Right Bank Bordeaux region. It is labelled with the shorthand "Beauséjour J D-L" and previously had the full name Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarosse. Beauséjour has 6.75 hectares (16.5 acres) under vine. Typical of many of Saint-Émilion and Right Bank Bordeaux producers, the property is planted predominantly to Merlot, with a lesser portion of Cabernet Franc. The estate had a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon but this has since been grafted with Cabernet Franc. In the wine trade, it is often referred to as "Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse" or even simply "Château Beauséjour" although an estate of this name exists in Montagne-Saint-Emilion, and the shorter title could also be confused with Beau-Séjour Bécot. The estate and wine has also been dubbed "Beauséjour HDL", and now "Beauséjour J D-L". See below for recent ownership changes. The property had been a larger single estate until 1869 when it was divided between the two children of its original owner, Pierre-Paulin Ducarpe. The château and half the vineyards were inherited by his daughter, who married into the Duffau-Lagarrosse family. The other half of the property went to Ducarpe's son and has become the modern estate Château Beau-Séjour Bécot. Pierre-Paulin Ducarpe's daughter took her husband's name, which now appeared in the estate's full name: Château Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse (literally "Château Beauséjour Heirs of Duffau-Lagarrosse"). It then passed down through nine generations. In early 2021, however, following a labyrinthine ownership saga – including potential takeovers by neighboring château owners – the running of the estate remained in the hands of the Duffau-Lagarrosse family through Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse. Ownership, however, passed to the Courtin-Clarins family, best-known for their beauty product company, Clarins. Although the estate did not figure in the original 1955 classification (its namesake, Château Beauséjour-Fagouet – which became Beau-Séjour Bécot in 1969 – was named a Premier Cru Classé B), it was ranked Premier Cru Classé B in the subsequent, 1969, iteration – a status the château has retained since. Beauséjour's reputation further grew in the 1990s, when American critic Robert Parker gave the 1990 vintage a perfect 100 points. In 2009, Nicolas Thienpont from Château Pavie Macquin was hired to modernize Château Beauséjour, along with famous consultants Michel Rolland and Stéphane Derenoncourt. Changes brought on by the trio, including fermentation of whole grapes and punching down in open fermentation tanks, began with the 2009 vintage. The 2009 and 2010 vintages went on to score 100 points each from Parker. A second wine called Croix de Beauséjour is made in conjunction with the grand vin.

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