Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien - 2019

75 cl

James Suckling: 98 points

Alcohol content: 14.2% vol.

Grape varieties: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot

Vinification:

Barrique ageing up to 18 months.

Tasting note:

The powerful and muscular Ducru-Beaucaillou 2019 offers aromas of cassis, raspberries and cherries intermingled with hints of violet and iris, framed by a generous use of creamy new oak. It is full-bodied, velvety and concentrated, rich but lively, with a deep fruit core and a rich array of ripe, powdery tannins.

Greater maturity and stricter selection over the last two decades have helped this Red wine from France The wine has brought what owner Bruno Borie calls extra "punch" in the form of unprecedented amounts of anthocyanins and tannins, but all this substance and structure will require some patience before we see if Ducru is still Saint-Julien's most elegant wine.

Chateaue Ducru-Beaucaillou:

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou owes its name to the "beautiful pebbles" (French "beaux Cailloux"), which geologists refer to less romantically as Gunzian gravel. These quartz pebbles were deposited by the ancient Garonne River at the beginning of the Quaternary period, around two million years ago.

All it takes is a walk through the vineyards to discover a wealth of lithological finds. Lydian jasper from the Pyrenees, flint, quartz, agatoid... These Gunzian gravels form soils that are poor in plant nutrients. But it is precisely their agrological sparseness that guarantees the quality of the wines. A decision in favour of nature.

Ready to drink from 2028 until certainly 2065