chateau branaire ducru 4eme cru classe st julien

Château Branaire Ducru

Château Branaire Ducru, 4ème Cru Classé, St Julien, 2022

Name: Château Branaire Ducru, 4ème Cru Classé, St Julien
Brand: Château Branaire Ducru

96/100

Inside Bordeaux

94-96/100

The Wine Independent

95-97/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Produced from 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23.5% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot including 10% of press wine. This is a really impressive Branaire. Notes of cut flowers, cherries, cedar and spice. Lots of big sweet fruit flavours on the palate, blackcurrants, dark cherries - powerful, with lots of glycerine. The tannins are ripe and there are long flavours of sweet cherries on the finish. A vin de garde.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

95-97/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2022 Branaire Ducru was harvested from 12-24 September at 34.5hL/ha, the blend representative of their vineyard plantings. This feels refined and focused on the nose with plush red berry fruit, dried rose petals and orange rind scents. Classic Branaire. The palate is fresh on the entry with pliant tannins. It's very well structured to the degree that it conveys a sense of symmetry. Lightly spiced toward the finish with notes of graphite lingering on the aftertaste, this represents an excellent Branaire Ducru that will age over many years and will surely appeal to those seeking more classical Saint-Julien. Tasted three times and was more impressive each time. Branaire-Ducru continues its upward trajectory under proprietor François-Xavier Maroteaux. 14.3% alcohol.

drinking window 2030 - 2065

date of review 05/2023

94-96/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2022 Branaire-Ducru is made from 60.5% CS, 31.5% Merlot, 5.5% Cabernet Franc, and 2.5% Petit Verdot with a yield of 34.5 hl/ha. Deep garnet-purple in color, it gallops out of the glass with energetic notes of crushed blackcurrants, fresh blackberries, and juicy plums, plus suggestions of clove oil, fertile loam, and dried lavender. The medium to full-bodied palate has a lot of elegance and finesse for its density and hefty weight, featuring lively black fruit layers and an approachable, grainy texture, finishing on a mineral note. Nicely done! The pH is 3.65.

drinking window 2029 - 2059

date of review 05/2023

96/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

This is an estate that can be so understated as to almost miss its complexity, but this vintage, with its excess and exuberance, does a wonderful job of drawing it out. The concentration is impressive, but there you'll also find a softness and balance that is juicy and enticing. Great job Branaire Ducru. Francois Xavier Maroteaux owner. I honestly think the best example of this château that I have ever tasted En Primeur (and god I hate it when critics say that).

drinking window 2030 - 2044

date of review 05/2023

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

St Julien

Producer:

Château Branaire Ducru

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Cab Sauvignon Merlot

abv:

14%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.