Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot 2019
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
#11 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2022
Blend: 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Rich plum colour. This takes its time to open, is pretty subtle at first, but then explodes in juicy fruit. Clear salinity where you can feel the slate scrape of the limestone terroir, alongside well expressed aromatics with touches of peony flowers. Elegant and succulent. Second vintage with Jean de Cournuaud as technical director.
Barrel Sample: 96 -
James Suckling
Plums, currants, pine cones, mushrooms and bark on the nose. Some licorice, too. It’s medium-bodied with tightly knit tannins. Tight and fresh with fantastic tension and drive. Refined and focused. Spicy and lightly salty at the end.
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Wine Spectator
This delivers a tumble of ripe raspberry, plum and boysenberry fruit flavors, lined with violet, red tea and sweet tobacco notes that add lift and range. The long, racy, chalk-lined finish leaves a pure feel that’s not easy to achieve in this vintage. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Beau-Séjour Bécot has turned out nicely, wafting from the glass with aromas of cassis, wild berries, raw cocoa, spices and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it's deep and layered, with a rich mid-palate that's underpinned by succulent acids and powdery tannins. Located opposite Château Canon on Saint-Émilion's limestone plateau, there's some significant restructuring going on in the vineyards here, and in the cellar, foudres, amphorae and once-used barrels complement new oak: the result is the best wines this estate has produced in the modern era. Rating: 94+
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The estate was named Beau-Séjour in 1787 by General Jacques de Carle, the proprietor at the time. Michel Bécot bought the estate from Doctor Jean Fagouet in 1969 and further increased the area under vine from 10.5 hectares to 15 by acquiring 4.5 hectares on the Trois Moulins plateau in 1979. The chateau then took on the name of Beau-Séjour Bécot. The vines are planted on perfectly homogenous soil ideal for producing fine wine. Michel Bécot retired in 1985. His two sons, Gérard and Dominique, now manage the estate.
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.