Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 2019

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, the 2019 Ducru-Beaucaillou is deep garnet-purple in color. It has closed a little since last tasting a few months ago, requiring considerable shaking to bring out notes of blackcurrant pastilles, redcurrant jelly, and wild blueberries plus hints of lilacs, mocha, and black olives. The medium to full-bodied palate is packed with bright, vibrant, black fruit with a lively backbone and very fine-grained tannins, finishing long and fragrant. This is beautiful!"

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Compelling from start to finish, the black, purple color invites you in. From there, the perfume, with its array of flowers, black, red, and blue fruit, chocolate, espresso, licorice, and liqueur lets you know you are in for a treat. And, that happens as soon as the multiple waves of fruit start coating your palate with their layers of perfectly ripe, silky, seductive, fresh, opulent, velvety, pure black, red, and blueberries. Along with 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022, this is in line to be one of the best vintages ever produced at Ducru Beaucaillou! The wine blends 80% Cabernet Sauvignon with 20% Merlot. Drink from 2030-2065."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Following the 2018 (and tasted next to the 2020), the 2019 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou comes across as more refined and elegant, with a straight, focused, still full-bodied profile that has pure cassis and blue-tinged fruits as well as textbook tobacco leaf, violets, and graphite. It’s a regal, refined, aristocratic Ducru Beaucaillou that has ultra-fine tannins and a layered, seamless mouthfeel, and while it’s seriously concentrated, it stays graceful and light on its feet. It’s closed down slightly since release, so this beauty needs a solid 7-8 years in the cellar."

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is so seductive on the nose, with perfumes of violets, blackcurrants, raspberries, and orange peel. Subtle. Ethereal. Full-bodied with such fine tannins and delicacy, with great length and beauty. Sophisticated and refined. Really amazing purity and depth. Great length, too. 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% merlot. Leave this for at least five or six years."

WEINWISSER: "80 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 % Merlot, 14,2 %-vol. Purpur mit rubinrotem Rand. Komplexes Bouquet mit reifen Waldhimbeeren, Alpenheidelbeeren und betörender Cassiswürze. Im zweiten Ansatz verspielte Veilchen, Schokotrüffel und Burley- Tabak. Am erhabenen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, kakaoartigen Tanninen und einer tänzerischen Rasse. Wie eine Ballerina schwebt dieser Wein über das Parkett. Im gebündelten, langanhaltenden Finale schwarzer Bergpfeffer, tiefgründige Terroirwürze, Wacholder und Olivenpaste im Rückaroma. Ein anmutiger Ducru mit gewaltigem Potenzial!"

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "A very fine wine, rich with its tannins and its structure. The wine is powerful without losing sight of its fine fruits, black currant flavors and acidity. Balanced and with great potential. Drink from 2027. "

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Powerful and muscular, the 2019 Ducru-Beaucaillou offers up aromas of cassis, raspberries and cherries mingled with notions of violets and iris, framed by a generous application of creamy new oak. Full-bodied, velvety and concentrated, it's rich but lively, with a deep core of fruit and an ample endowment of ripe, powdery tannins. Fuller maturity and a more rigorous selection over the last two decades have brought what proprietor Bruno Borie characterizes as additional "punch" to this wine, in the form of unprecedented levels of anthocyanins and tannins, but all that substance and structure will require some patience before we'll see if Ducru is still Saint-Julien's most elegant wine."

DECANTER: "Rich, ripe, heady nose filled with milk chocolate, blackcurrant and black cherry with floral touches. This is a beguiling wine, starting off smooth and velvety with a bright cherry freshness that is fun and playful before settling and deepening into a black fruit profile, seductively drawing you in and presenting layer upon layer of acidity, flavour and tannins that, despite being abundant and mouth filling are juicy, soft and fine. Precision winemaking on show here, and across the entire range of wines this year. This is complex and defined with an aerial finish that's filled with crushed stone and freshly picked mint. A glass of wine you just want to sit with and think about. One to buy and hold on to. Drinking Window 2025 - 2045"

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Black core. So much more fragrant than the 2018. More pure fruit and dark elegance. The tannins are not as velvety but they are superfine even if they are holding everything to ransom at the moment. Lovely freshness."