Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Croix de Beaucaillou 2020
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Suckling
James - Vinous
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Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Dense violet colour with pronounced aromas of cassis and cherry with nuances of graphite, cocoa and spice. The palate is full-bodied with a firm core of fine-grained, polished tannins, enveloped with densely concentrated, and defined fruits giving a voluptuous, supple texture. Finely balanced, very persistent finish. Striking presence.
Blend: 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of currants, orange peel and dried flowers. Minerals. Medium to full body, fine and lightly chewy tannins, and a long and linear finish. Hints of salt. Crushed stone. Flavorful and bright. A little closed. Needs time to open. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 44% merlot, and 3% petit verdot. Better after 2027.
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Vinous
The 2020 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou, matured in 60% new oak for an expected 12 months, is pleasantly reduced on the nose, opening up in the glass with intense black fruit laced with black olive and subtle estuarine scents. The palate is medium-bodied with an appealing powdery texture. A structured Saint-Julien with tangible backbone and grip on the finish. Yet, there is exquisite balance and impressive salinity on the aftertaste. Excellent. -Neal Martin
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Jeb Dunnuck
The second wine of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou matches many châteaux's Grand Vins. Their 2020 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou (52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot) reveals a dense purple hue as well as full-bodied array of cassis, graphite, liquid violets, and tobacco. It has tons of minerality, a stacked mid-palate, and ripe tannins. Give bottles 2-4 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following two decades.
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Decanter
Really perfumed, lovely rose and violet notes on the nose, floral, aromatic and expressive. Supple, round and quite tense, this has a buzzy energy to it, a little lean and spiced right now, some coarse, grippy tannins, but nice vertical layering. Well framed with clear power but well controlled with freshness and succulence to the blackcurrant and blueberry fruits.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries, plums, violets and licorice, the 2020 La Croix de Beaucaillou is medium to full-bodied, supple and fleshy, with a pure core of perfumed fruit and a charming, precise profile.
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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.