Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, Bordeaux, France, 2020

Overview of the Wine
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, archetypical Saint-Julien wines.

Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the center 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. Unusual for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years.

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.

Grape / Blend
81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot Noir

Origin
St-Julien, Bordeaux, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
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.

100 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
Lastly, the 2020 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is another legendary wine from this château that has been on an incredible run over the past decade. A blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot that was brought up all in new French oak, it has a saturated purple hue to go with an incredible, mineral-laced bouquet of crème de cassis, liquid violets, graphite, and tobacco leaf. More structured and concentrated than any of the Léovilles, this blockbuster, deep, concentrated, full-bodied Saint-Julien has off-the-charts purity, ultra-fine tannins, and a great, great finish. I wrote in my notes, "Like the 2010, only better." You won't find a more concentrated yet flawlessly balanced and elegant wine out there. It's going to need a decade of cellaring and will have 40, 50, if not 60 years of longevity.

99 Points - 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.

98 Points - 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.

97 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Ducru-Beaucaillou is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot, aging for approximately 18 months in 100% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.83, 13.5% alcohol and an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 90. 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.


Product size: 750ml