Winemaker Notes
Blend: 58% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
A clear step up in richness, polish and texture. 80% new oak at this point. In these kind of vintages though, it is noteworthy that you have to climb this high to really be assured of getting a bottle that impresses and that lives up to the expectations of the appellation and château. Lovely damson fruits here. Will be ready to drink earlier than the monumental 2016, but you are getting a slick, well defined wine with plenty of great fruit. There is an austerity at this point, in that you feel the tannins closing in towards the finish, but this is the one I would happily recommend.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Coming mostly from a single parcel in the northern part of the estate, the 2017 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is a final blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot. It has a great nose of creme de cassis, crushed rock, lead pencil, and dried herbs. This gives way to a medium to full-bodied, elegant wine that has silky tannins, a great mid-palate, and bright acidity. Give bottles 4-6 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two decades. Rating: 93+
-
James Suckling
Intense and pure aromas of blueberries and cassis here,. The palate has a smooth, fine-edged core of tannin and a good build of rich fruit flavor. Some graphite to the black fruit. A blend of 58% merlot, 39% cabernet sauvignon and 3% petit verdot. Second wine of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. Drink or hold.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Displaying a deep garnet-purple color, the 2017 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou Cuvée Colbert gives up chocolate-covered cherries, violets and crème de cassis aromas with hints of fragrant soil and black tea. The palate is medium-bodied, finely crafted, firm and refreshing with grainy tannins and a fruity finish.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Spectator
Inviting, featuring crushed loganberry and plum fruit flavors, mixed with warm anise and black tea notes. A solid graphite spine runs through the finish. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Best from 2021 through 2030.
Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou is named after the beautiful, large stones found in its unique wine-growing terroir. This exceptional ecosystem produces fine, elegant, tasty wines with a long finish - in short, archetypical Saint-Julien wines.
Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the center of a hundred-year-old park, Ducru-Beaucaillou is a majestic, Victorian-style castle, which has, over time, become one of the great symbols of the Médoc. Unusual for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years.
Today, the estate is managed by the company Jean Eugène Borie SA, which is owned by Mrs Borie, her daughter Sabine Coiffe and her son Bruno-Eugène, CEO since 2003, the third generation of the Borie family to head the estate. There are very close links between this estate and the five families who have been its successive owners.
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.