2022, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, SAINT-JULIEN, 2ème Grand Cru Classé

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

Ducru Beaucaillou is on top form. Bruno Borie has made some very serious wines at Ducru in recent vintages with many vats previously destined for the grand vin now being used for the second or third labels. Bruno's policy is now to only select fruit from the heart of the Ducru vineyard, overlooking the estuary, for the Grand Vin. The 2022 blend is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot. 

Deep damson colour, poised and intense, a serious wine with crushed mint, graphite and bitter black chocolate on the opening beats, setting the tone for a slow reveal of confident St Julien character. Powerful tannins convey purity and precision, set against creamy cassis and bilberry fruits, with softer smoked earth and baked spice, and a slate finish. The construction is careful and measured, extremely impressive, this is has decades ahead. 98 Jane Anson.

So much creme de cassis and blackcurrant aromas and flavours here. Full-bodied with powerful tannins, yet fine and layered. Chewy. You can really feel the thick grape skins here. Excellent length. Tannins spread across the palate. Minerally and crushed stone. 97-98 James Suckling.

The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou soars out of the glass with graceful, energetic notes of crushed blackcurrants, redcurrant preserves, wild blueberries, and dark chocolate, followed by touches of violets, clove oil, cumin seed, and cast-iron pan. The medium to full-bodied palate is built like a skyscraper, delivering very firm, super-ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness to support the densely laden, vibrant black fruits, finishing very long with a spectacular display of mineral and floral fireworks. 97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown.

The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou contains less Cabernet than last year and is closer to the normal blend of the Grand Vin. The bouquet bides its time in the glass, almost reluctantly unfurling with scents of blackberry, briary, cigar humidor and sous-bois. At this nascent stage, it is more backward than its peers. The palate is undoubtedly one of the most dense and muscular that I have encountered over many years tasting at the estate, full-bodied with vice-like tannins. Continuing the theme of the estate's other cuvées, there is a lovely Pauillac-like presence throughout, with graphite/pencil lead infusing the black fruit. The finish exerts a considerable grip and feels saline, almost briny on the aftertaste. This Leviathan Ducru-Beaucaillou threatens to overwhelm the senses, uncompromising in many ways, and it will patently take many years for the tannins to soften. I feel that it is only once in bottle that one will be able to gauge its trajectory. 95-97 Neal Martin, Vinous.

One of the Médoc's most powerful wines this year is the 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou, that opens in the glass with aromas of dark cherries and berries mingled with pencils shavings, vanilla pod and spices. Full-bodied, broad-shouldered and muscular, with a core of ripe but lively fruit underpinned by a chassis of powdery, liberally extracted tannin that asserts itself on the finish, it's a punchy, modern Saint-Julien reminiscent of a hypothetical blend of the 2018 and 2020. 94-96 William Kelley, Wine Advocate.

Drinking Window: 2040 - 2075