Madame de Beaucaillou Haut-Médoc 2018
Local wine merchant Vin Chicago put this label out as a special feature offer and I picked up a case and, oh my, am I glad I did! We're long time fans and collectors of the grand vin Ducru Beaucaillou and were intrigued to try this new label in its inaugural release.
We visited the famous Château Ducru Beaucaillou during our Bordeaux St Julien wine experience in 2018 and tasted the 2018 release from the barrel. That vintage went on to receive 100 points from Wine Enthusiast and 99 points from just about everyone else. They released this new label for that vintage so we were compelled to pick some up.
As I have oft written in these pages, in top vintages, 'all boats rise with the tide', meaning great Chateaux will produce great wines even in their second and third labels, such that those labels often provide tremendous QPR - Quality Price Ratios, superb wines at a fraction of the price of the grand vin.
Wine critic Jeb Dunnuck wrote about the 2018 Bordeaux: "In short, 2018 is a thrilling vintage with no shortage of legendary wines and I cannot imagine anyone who purchases these wines will be disappointed...It’s possible to find attractive, well-made, even outstanding, wines that punch well above their price points."
With the 2018 vintage, Ducru Beaucaillou decided to honor it’s 300th birthday and its Chairman [chairwoman] of the Board, Mrs. Eugene Borie, for the past decade by creating a new cuvee from her family’s home vineyards. The cuvee is this one, the Madame de Beaucaillou, released in 2020.
This is vinified in the cellars by the Ducru-Beaucaillou team, receiving the same care and attention: the technical winemaking process, selective blending, and careful ageing for 12 months in barrel (including 20% new oak).
Deep garnet-colored, medium bodied, bright expressive vibrant blackberries, blueberries and plum fruits, accented by graphite and a touch of clove, hints of coffee tobacco, cigar and cedar with a savoury round finish with firm structured backbone and sturdy, fine-grain
cloying tongue coating tannins that are not for the feint of heart but will impress big Bordeaux enthusiasts.
This was delicious already and I can only imagine how this will be with three to five or more years of additional integration and aging.
RM 91 points. This was also awarded 91 points by James Suckling
https://www.cellartracker.com/barcode.asp?iWine=3893569
Upon tasting this, I quickly got on line and ordered the current release of this label, available through En primeur (futures purchase). Stay tuned as I'll dutifully report on that wine as I soon as obtain some and have the opportunity to try it.
