2020 Ducru Beaucaillou
Buying options
Tasting notes
Like all of Ducru’s wines in 2020, the colour here is impressively intense – a glisteningly deep purple. The toasted spice is beautifully absorbed by the sheer concentration of fruit on the nose, with a compact spectrum of fruit, from black cherry through to currants and sweeter purple fruit tones. The fruit remains so condensed at the moment, but a lovely smokiness wafts over the fruit, backed by earthier, graphite aromas. It is captivating. The palate is drop-dead awe-inspiring. It is fantastically ripe and concentrated, but the precision of the tannins creates a stunning structure and focus to the palate – starting plush, broad and juicy and finishing so tight. The condensed fruit and fine tannins produces layer upon layer of textures on the palate, bringing great tension. There is lots of freshness too and there is a wonderful energy to the finish. Wow! This is serotonin-releasing hedonistic Saint-Julien of the highest order.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jane Anson, Decanter
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Black core with crimson rim. Intense aroma of pure black fruit. Pure cassis. Very deep, rich and oaky but the fruit is the power at the core of the wine. Big and harmonious. Maybe not classic St-Julien but perhaps it is in 2020? (JH)
Another legendary Ducru Beaucaillou in the making, the 2020 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou hasn't budged since release. Full-bodied, concentrated, and layered, it has incredible purity in its cassis and darker, almost blue fruits, some classic yet primary tobacco, graphite, and mineral notes, a dense mid-palate, and awesome length on the finish. It's very much in the style of the 2010 and deserves at least a decade of bottle age. I won't be around to taste it, but I suspect this will still be offering pleasure on its 100th birthday.
Blackcurrants and blueberries with violets and crushed stone. Extremely aromatic. Full-bodied but very tight and reserved, with racy, almost steely tannins. Some subtle sweet fruit in the center palate. Great transparency and clarity. Super precision here. Vertical and polished.
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.