2022 Beau-Sejour Becot
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Tasting Notes
Tasted on multiple occasions, the 2022 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot aways impressed, and I think it's clearly one of the finest vintages for this château. Including more Cabernet Franc than usual and a blend of 76% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, its ruby/purple hue is followed by a pure, ultra-fine, seamless Saint-Emilion with a wonderful core of black raspberry fruits supported by beautifully complex notes of chalky minerality, flowery incense, tobacco, and graphite. Medium to full bodied, with beautiful tannins and a great finish, this is never the most massive or concentrated wine in a vintage, yet it shines for its incredible sense of elegance, finesse, and complexity. The élevage here will span 18 months in 55% new French oak, and this hit 14.5% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.55. It will drink well for 30+ years.
Critic Scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
More reviews and scores
The bouquet of red and purple flowers stands out in the nose before you get to the sweet, red, black and blue fruits, licorice and spice. On the palate the wine is incredibly dense, sensuous, opulent and deep. Yet, with all the concentration, the wine is weightless, and effortless to drink. On the mid-palate, the waves of fruits keep coming as they coat your palate. The purity in the fruit, the energy, length, balance, and complexity is at a new level here. The seamless finish, with its ocean of berries, topped by a salty, crushed stones hits the 60 second mark. The best part of the experience is the velvet-drenched-texture that needs to be experienced. The wine blends 76% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.5%, ABV, 3.55 pH. The harvest took place, September 5 - September 26. Yields were 33 hectoliters per hectare. Make no mistake, this is the best wine ever produced at Beau-Sejour Becot.
With the 2022 Beau-Séjour Bécot, this estate has taken another step up the ranks in Saint-Émilion, producing a wine of breathtaking perfume and harmony that will be worth a special effort to seek out. Wafting from the glass with aromas of wild berries, violets, lilac, raw cocoa and forest floor, it's medium to full-bodied, seamless and complete, with an ample and enveloping core of weightless fruit, beautifully powdery tannins and a long, saline, resonant finish. Recently planted massale selection Cabernet Franc is now producing meaningful yields at this address, so this cépage now represents 22% of the blend, complemented by 2% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Merlot. The team harvested only in the mornings, picking Merlot from 5-18 September and Cabernet from 13-23 September, sub-block by sub-block.
76% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cask sample. The change to a more refined style clearly marked. Juicy, fresh and floral with a feather-light touch to the palate. Substance and structure, though, the tannins plentiful and long. Clean, refreshing finish, the limestone terroir apparent. (JL)
