【Perfect score wine】
【Robert Parker rated Ducru Beaucaillour as "Super 2nd Growth Grand Cru Class"】
【Emile Peynaud as Winemaking Consultant】
【Vinous 98 pts】
【JamesSuckling 96-97 pts】
【Wine Spectator 95-97】
【Wine Advocate 94-96 pts】
ZTF1087E - Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 2021 Saint Julien
Special Price: $1250/bottle
Region/Classification: St-Julien
Grape Variety: 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot
Alcohol Content: 12.5% vol
Volume: 750ml
【Rating】
Vinous 98 pts：
The 2021 Ducru-Beaucaillou captures all the potential it showed from barrel. A delicate, understated wine, the 2021 impresses above all else with its finesse. All the elements are impeccably balanced throughout. Time in the glass brings out the wine's inner sweetness and gorgeous perfume. The balance with oak, at times a challenge here, is also flawless. With lower alcohol and therefore also less extraction from oak than recent vintages, the 2021 is shaping up to be a modern-day classic. The blend is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Merlot, the highest amount of Cabernet Sauvignon ever here. What a wine.
JamesSuckling 96-97 pts：
Firm, structured and pure with a cool and solid core of dark currants, blackberries, tar, pencil lead and bitter chocolate. Hints of tobacco, too. Firm but silky tannins. Very pure, with a long, mineral finish. Intense and very focused.
Wine Spectator 95-97：
Almost entirely Cabernet, this wine is packed with aromatic black-currant fruits. It is impressively rich with solid tannins and black plum, walnut and berry flavors. Drink this powerful wine from 2028 at the earliest.
Wine Advocate 94-96 pts：
A wine that will delight Médoc 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 1996—though today's precision winemaking means that the 2021 is unlikely to go through so long a hibernation as that vintage.
【Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou】
Aseminal meeting in the Age of Enlightenment. It all started with a marriage. An illustrious servant of the king, squire Jacques de Bergeron took Marie Dejean, heiress of the vineyard, for his wife on 30 May 1720 in the church of Saint-Julien de Reignac. In 1860, Marie-Louise Ravez bought out her brother, Jean-Baptiste Gustave Ducru, and became the sole owner.Under his stewardship, the property saw great improvements in quality within Saint-Julien and the growth was the most expensive in the appellation at this time. Consecration came with the 1855 classification : Château Ducru (Beaucaillou) was given a noble position on the second step of the Bordeaux podium. In 1942, Francis Borie therefore took Ducru-Beaucaillou on a life annuity rental from Fernand Odon Desbarats de Burke. A relentless builder, this energetic merchant from Corrèze was also a passionate winegrower at Château Haut Batailley, a classified growth in neighbouring Pauillac. Liked and respected by all, Francis had a deep sweetness of soul; he had no lack of generosity. Since 1953, Emile Peynaud, a famous winemaker became their wine consultant.
In 1959, Jean-Eugène, succeeding his father, undertook meticulous work to restore the vineyard and the cellars. Quickly abandoning the family’s merchant business, he dedicated himself to the development and modernisation of the property to put it entirely at the service of the wines he loved so much. His considerable efforts began to bear fruit in the second half of the 1950s when Ducru-Beaucaillou’s reputation rose to the highest level in Bordeaux, and it has never been refuted since then.
His superb vintages, combined with his modesty and tongue-in-cheek humour, made him one of the most endearing personalities of the Médoc.
or 300 years, six families have nurtured an indelible bond with Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. They are forever captives of this prestigious estate, be they named Desjean, Bergeron, Ducru, Johnston, Desbarat, or Borie. Its families were never short of praise for it. Over the decades, this devotion has managed to overcome all that is accidental or fleeting, as if passion perfected Nature's opus.
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou owes its name to its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux Cailloux", in French) that geologists refer to less romantically as Gunzian gravel. These quartz pebbles were deposited by the ancient Garonne at the beginning of the early Quaternary period, some two million years ago. It suffices to take a walk through the vineyards to make rich lithological finds. Lydian jasper from the Pyrenees, flint, quartz, agatoids... These Gunzian gravels make for soils that are poor in plant nutrients. But it is their very agrological paucity that guarantees the qualitative excellence of the wines. A choice of nature.
The other privilege enjoyed by Ducru-Beaucaillou is its proximity to the vast Gironde River estuary (some 635 km²). The four daily tides that stir up this massive body of water mitigate the rigors of winter, moderate the summer heatwaves, and deflect the devastating trajectory of hailstorms.
No less than 50 manual interventions contribute to the crafting of Ducru-Beaucaillou "grand vin". This united, multicultural team shares a common philosophy: to push the demands of their profession to the limits. Great wine is an accumulation of care and attention to detail. The viticulture is wilfully elitist and respectful, from the technical winegrowing process to the reconstitution of the soils, from the traditional Médoc-style pruning to the meticulous green harvesting and the staggered replanting of each vineyard blocks. Selection of the grapes is ever more stringent, vinification is adapted to the specific identity of each plot. All of these efforts contribute to the extraordinary purity of the blends that subsequently undergo slow aging in 100% new French oak barrels for 18 months. Not to mention the unending listening, questioning, reflecting.
The result is in the glass. The allure is immediate. A soft, fruity attack on the palate, a voluptuousness underscored by perfectly integrated, silky tannins that culminate in an exceptionally lengthy finish. The aromas dance, flatter the nose, seduce the soul and penetrate the memory. A muse that arrives on tiptoe and leave a lasting, infinite souvenir
