2020 | Château Ducru-Beaucaillou | Saint-Julien

Opaque purple-black colored, the nose slowly unfurls to reveal tantalizing scents of crushed blackcurrants, wild blueberries and boysenberries, leading to suggestions of chocolate mint, star anise, red roses and unsmoked cigars with a waft of cedar chest. The medium-bodied palate delivers impactful, muscular black fruits with a firm frame of ripe, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and fragrant.

Reviews:

• Decanter: An amazing Ducru, one of the wines of the vintage. Hugely persistent, chiselled and precise, yet succulent in its berry and cassis fruit character. The slate and pencil lead finish slows things down and grabs hold of you, I love the push-and-pull of the tannins. Always a confident and well-finessed wine, really flexing its muscles in 2020. 100% new oak barrels.

• James Suckling: Really perfumed and complex with blackberries, blackcurrants and flowers. Gorgeous cabernet sauvignon character. Full-bodied with really fine, polished tannins. Superb length and intensity. Very compact and seamless. Ethereal. Just goes on and on.

Producer Information

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is a well-regarded wine estate in the Saint-Julien appellation of Bordeaux's Haut-Médoc wine region, on the so-called "left bank" of the Gironde estuary. The estate and its eponymous grand vin (the estate's principle wine) was rated a second growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. It is often described as the quintessential Saint-Julien – deeply colored and powerfully ripe, yet balanced and harmonious. The grand vin usually needs 10 years of aging and can last for decades. A second wine, Croix de Beaucaillou, is also produced from the Ducru vineyard. The 75-hectare (185-acre) vineyard is situated in the southeast of the appellation, north of the village of Beychevelle and bordering Branaire-Ducru and Beychevelle to the south, with Léoville and Langoa Barton to the north. The Ducru-Beaucaillou château and estate lies relatively close to the broad Gironde estuary, which moderates the local microclimate and gives some protection from frost and hail. On the deeper gravel layers of the vineyard there is enhanced drainage, evening warmth, and a protective layer stopping the subsoil from drying out in heat waves. Alluvial deposits and a high clay content enrich the soil, and the vineyard takes its name from these "beautiful stones". It is planted 70 percent to Cabernet Sauvignon and 30 percent to Merlot. Grapes are sorted in the vineyard on mobile tables to promptly separate out any unhealthy grapes, and specific vineyard plots are vinified separately. Barrel-ageing uses between 50-80 percent new wood, depending on the vintage. The château is unusual for the region in being built directly over the wine cellars, and in that it is still inhabited by the family who own the estate. The Borie family also own the châteaux Lalande-Borie in Saint-Julien and Ducluzeau in Listrac-Médoc. The estate also produces a second wine, La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou – a blend of 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with the remainder Merlot and a little Petit Verdot. The third wine, Le Petit Ducru, inverts these proportions and is 60 percent Merlot with around 35 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and the remainder, Petit Verdot.

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