Winemaker Notes
Château Beychevelle 2024 has a fine, velvety tannic structure, a lovely aromatic balance with notes of red fruit and spices and a beautiful freshness.
Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
This wine does not include the blanket 10% tariff imposed in April 2025. When the wines are shippable in fall of 2027, customers will have the option to pay any tariff in place at the time or to keep their wines stored in a temperature-controlled facility free of charge in France.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2024 Beychevelle might very well be the wine of the vintage in Saint-Julien. It is certainly among the very best I tasted on the Left Bank. Plush, inky and beautifully layered in the glass, the 2024 is so silky and inviting. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, mocha and spice are some of the many notes that stain the palate. The sustained, resonant finish is a thing of beauty. Tasted two times. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
James Suckling
Good depth and complexity here from this light, acid-driven vintage. Violets, fresh herbs, blackcurrants, berries and a touch of paprika and white pepper. Bright and succulent on the palate with firm, crunchy tannins and a structured finish.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Jeb Dunnuck
A pure, balanced, absolutely classy Saint-Julien, the 2024 Château Beychevelle is deep purple-hued with ample red, blue, and black fruits intermixed with notes of graphite, lead pencil, and background oak. It's balanced, medium-bodied, has polished tannins, the fresher, juicy acidity of the vintage, and a great finish. The blend is 55% Cabernet, 42% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot checking in at 13% alcohol with a pH of 3.57 and an IPT of 75.
Barrel Sample: 92-94+ -
Decanter
Juicy and clean, a good lift and sense of life here. Not heavy or particularly weighty but the tannins have a round and filling mouthfeel, sleek but well textured with a push of ripe blueberries and some strawberry fruit. It stands up in the line up of St-Juliens. Acidity is still there on the finish which is great. Missing a touch more excitement and still some compaction but this ageing should help. Ageing 70% new oak. 3.57pH. 5% press wine (to check). Airpulse and pigeage to do soft extractions. Tasted three times.
Barrel Sample: 92
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.
An icon of balance and tradition, St. Julien boasts the highest proportion of classed growths in the Médoc. What it lacks in any first growths, it makes up in the rest: five amazing second growth chateaux, two superb third growths and four well-reputed fourth growths. While the actual class rankings set in 1855 (first, second, and so on the fifth) today do not necessarily indicate a score of quality, the classification system is important to understand in the context of Bordeaux history. Today rivalry among the classed chateaux only serves to elevate the appellation overall.
One of its best historically, the estate of Leoville, was the largest in the Médoc in the 18th century, before it was divided into the three second growths known today as Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases, Léoville-Poyferré and Léoville-Barton. Located in the north section, these are stone’s throw from Chateau Latour in Pauillac and share much in common with that well-esteemed estate.
The relatively homogeneous gravelly and rocky top soil on top of clay-limestone subsoil is broken only by a narrow strip of bank on either side of the “jalle,” or stream, that bisects the zone and flows into the Gironde.
St. Julien wines are for those wanting subtlety, balance and consistency in their Bordeaux. Rewarding and persistent, the best among these Bordeaux Blends are full of blueberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco and licorice. They are intense and complex and finish with fine, velvety tannins.