1982 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Vintage Recorked by Château
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Tasting notes
The 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou is a vintage that has been variable over the years and this example merely adds to the bottle-to-bottle inconsistency. It starts promisingly with quite a mineral-driven bouquet, more intensity than the '82 Beychevelle, plenty of black fruit mixed with undergrowth and leather, a touch of chlorophyll too. The palate is medium-bodied and shows a little more VA than expected; likewise I was not the only person who thought there was some Brettanomyces marring the finish. Over 30 minutes it becomes quite herbal. Like a misbehaving child! Tasted single blind at the 1982 dinner at Cornus in London.
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From my cellar, the 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou is one of the most youthful of the Médoc crus classés today. Unwinding in the decanter and glass with a rich bouquet of blackcurrants, licorice, cigar wrapper and loamy soil, it's full-bodied, fleshy and muscular, with a broad attack that segues into a deep core of fruit framed by ripe, powdery tannins and succulent acids. It's an unusually big-boned rendition of this elegant-styled wine, but it's no less compelling for that.
The 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou can be a stupendous wine...or it can leave you scratching your head. On the nose, this bottle shows a little more brettanomyces than others that I have tasted, though it dissipates with aeration to reveal blackberry, mint and light herbal notes. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a little chewy and rustic compared to recent vintages, plenty of tobacco, tea leaf and smoky notes, but just a bit stunted on the finish when you expect it to fan out. I have had better examples of the 1982 over the years, even if it has curiously never been one of my favourite examples of this feted vintage. Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the château.
The finest bottle I’ve had of this wine (which came from the estate), the 1982 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou continues to drink brilliantly and is a magical Saint-Julien. Still healthy ruby hued with a mature yet insanely complex bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, cedary herbs, graphite, tobacco, and forest floor, it’s powerful yet seamless on the palate, with resolved tannins, no hard edges, and a fabulous finish. This is mature Bordeaux in all its glory. Drink bottles any time over the coming two decades.
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.