Château Ducru Beaucaillou, 2eme Cru Classé, St Julien, 2021
Bruno Borie and his team are utterly uncompromising, taking whatever steps are required to produce the best Ducru. The 2021 iteration comprises 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and just 2% Merlot. The IPT was a record 101, making this the most tannic Ducru ever, although you don't feel that at all. At just 12.5% alcohol, this is a fascinating blend of modernity and classicism. It opens with a glorious bouquet of incense, spice, sandalwood, violets and gravelly cassis. The palate is packed with dark cabernet fruit, blackcurrant and creme de mure, very polished and taut, with wonderful aromatics. Perfumed and detailed. Surprisingly vibrant and mineral, with a cool focus to the fruit and framed by long, noble, cashmere tannins. Very impressive.
critic reviews
A blend of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Merlot, the 2021 Ducru-Beaucaillou is deep garnet-purple in color. It leaps from the glass with bold notions of fresh blackcurrants, wild strawberries, lavender, and boysenberries, giving way to a pepper and spice-laced undercurrent. The light-bodied palate delivers impressive tension, with fine-grained tannins and vivacious black and red berry layers, finishing with a spicy kick.
The 2021 Ducru-Beaucaillou, bottled July 2023, has a classically styled bouquet: blackberry, iodine and, again, a conspicuous marine influence of kelp and sea spray. The nose has very fine delineation—cool, calm and collected. The palate is medium-bodied with fine depth, although there remains some new oak to be subsumed at the moment, and that partially shades the terroir toward the finish. But it is finely balanced and poised. A dash of black pepper on the aftertaste lingers in the mouth. This is a delightful, well-crafted Ducru-Beaucaillou that may merit a higher score down the line.
Still in barrel at the time of tasting (bottling due in August 2023), showing a seductive smoked cedar, soot and campfire chararater, layers of sculpted dark fruits, and rose petal aromatics, this is well structured, softens in the mid palate to reveal creamy blackberry and raspberry fruit, with savoury salted cracker. Unquestionably one of the wines to go to within a challenging vintage, really stands out. Harvest September 23 to October 11. 100% new oak. A tiny crop, below 20hl/h, which accounts for the high percentage of Cabernet. Emmanuel Bonneau technical director, Eric Boissenot consultant.
A wine that will delight Medoc purists, the 2021 Ducru-Beaucaillou is a blend of fully 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Merlot and checks in at a mere 12.5% alcohol. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cigar wrapper, violets, loamy soil and spices, it's full-bodied, layered and velvety, with superb depth at the core, lively acids and powdery tannins. Complete and penetrating, it's a true classic, reminiscent of a modern-day version of Ducru's brilliant 1996though today's precision winemaking means that the 2021 is unlikely to go through so long a hibernation as that vintage.
product details
you may also like
2007 · Red Wine · Cab Sauvignon Merlot
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
La Croix de Beaucaillou, St Julien
Case 12 x 75 cl£497.47
Inc Duty & VAT
2022 · Red Wine · Cab Sauvignon Merlot
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
La Croix Ducru Beaucaillou, St Julien
Case 6 x 75 cl£279.94
Inc Duty & VAT
2023 · Red Wine · Cab Sauvignon Merlot
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Madame de Beaucaillou, Haut Médoc
Case 6 x 75 cl£78.00
Ex Duty & VAT
2022 · Red Wine · Cab Sauvignon Merlot
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Le Petit Ducru de Ducru Beaucaillou, St Julien
Case 6 x 75 cl£183.34
Inc Duty & VAT
