1988 Ducru Beaucaillou
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Tasting notes
The 1988 Ducru-Beaucaillou, a late picked vintage (30 September to 12 October) feels a little staid on the nose. Black fruit, touches of lavender, but there seems to be little energy or tension. The palate is better with black cherries and briary, but there is a greenness that is more jarring here than on the bottle I tasted at the estate three years earlier, suggesting that bottles should be consumed in the near future. Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the château.
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More reviews and scores
Proprietor Bruno Borie referred to this as "the Indian Summer vintage." Medium to deep brick in color with a hint of brown, the 1988 Ducru-Beaucaillou gives up pronounced notes of leather, Chinese five spice, sandalwood and cigar box with a core of dried figs and cranberries plus hints of fruitcake and smoked meats. Medium-bodied and mature, the palate still possesses a fair bit of chew with lingering notions of exotic spices and black tea, finishing with a fragrant dried herbs lift. Readers should note that this vintage fell within a notoriously patchy period at Ducru, where the cellar is likely to have fallen victim to TCA or a TCA-like taint, and it appears some bottles were impacted from 1986 to 1994. By 1995, the chateau had a completely new vat room/cellar and the problem ceased. Therefore, there could be some bottle variation to be had with this vintage. This bottle, however, was pristine, tasted at the chateau.
The 1988 Ducru Beaucaillou was picked from 30 September according to the château’s records. This was the period where some of the stock was afflicted by a taint from the roof of one of the storage cellars, though this bottle was clean. It has an attractively fresh and quite youthful bouquet compared to its peers and 30 years of age: black fruit, leather, a touch of mint and a big bunch of violets. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. Perhaps, like many 1988 Left Banks, the palate has not aged as well as the nose: rustic and earthy with dryness creeping in towards the finish. In an odd way, you wish the bouquet had not been so attractive because the palate cannot quite keep up, notwithstanding that it is a little short. Not a bad Ducru-Beaucaillou by a long chalk but I would drink up bottles in the near future. Tasted at the château.
Shows outstanding structure and definition. New oak comes through in the coffee and plum aromas and the palate is firm and concentrated, with delicious blackberry flavors. Hold until 2000 for it to soften and bloom.--Ducru-Beaucaillou vertical. -James Suckling, Wine Spectator 1992
About the producer
Second Growth estate Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou in Saint-Julien is one of the Super Seconds, an elite group of properties producing wines that regularly compete with the finest in the Médoc.