Winemaker Notes
#55 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2018
Blend: 80% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This family-owned property at one of the high points in Saint-Émilion has made a rich, opulent wine, full of perfumed Cabernet Franc and generous Merlot. Ripe blackberries and dark plums are permeated with some serious tannins for aging. Drink this powerful wine from 2025.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Very perfumed with crushed berries and blackberries. Wet earth and great intensity. Decadent. Full-bodied, layered and very velvety and intense. Extremely long and intense. A sexy and opulent wine yet poised and tight. One of best ever. Needs at least three to five years bottle age.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Beau-Sejour Becot is composed of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 85% new and 15% one-year-old French oak for 17 months. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the nose opens with blackberries, black cherries and crushed black plums with touches of spice box, lavender and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, it's rich, velvety and decadent in the mouth with a firm backbone and long, spicy finish. Yum!
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Wine Spectator
This brims with ripe, juicy plum, blackberry and açaí berry flavors, studded with licorice and fruitcake notes and backed by a wonderfully integrated apple wood detail through the finish. Pumps a lot of fruit out but does so energetically. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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Decanter
Deep and reserved on the nose but a fragrant palate. Powerful but refined tannic base. Beautiful smooth texture with the freshness from the limestone terroir. Persistent finish.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.