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| Type of Wine | Red |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | |
| Appellation | Saint-Julien |
| Winery | |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Grape | , , , Petit Verdot |
| Content (Alc) | 0.75 ltr (14%) |
| Drink window | 2022 - 2054 |
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The wines of La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou come from the vineyard of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. This exceptional terroir of the Médoc is located between the river Gironde to the east, the center and the west of the Saint-Julien appellation. The estate takes its name from its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux cailloux", in French) which, due to their high quartz content, provide soils that are poor in plant nutrients.
It is precisely this "agrological" scarcity, as the late professor and geographer from Bordeaux, René Pijassou, described it, that makes them so suitable for the production of good wine. To the east, the plots are planted along the rolling Médoc ridges, just above the estuary, while those in the epicenter benefit from a microclimate fed by the small stream of La Mouline that meanders through the center of the appellation from west to east before it disappears in the Gironde.
The La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is a fine wine that perfectly expresses its exceptional terroir. This is not a second wine as such, as it comes from a dedicated part of the vineyard, located on the south bank of La Mouline. La Croix de Beaucaillou 2018 is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, aged for 12 months in 60% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.75, 15% alcohol. Deep garnet purple colored it is in the glass and in the nose it still needs to open a little but with time and oxygen this great St Julien opens very elegantly with subtle notes of fertile loam, tobacco, truffles with a core of crème de cassis, blackberry compote and blueberries with hints of undergrowth and bay leaves. Full, rich and seductive on the palate, with firm, round tannins and enough freshness to give the dense fruit a long finish. Powerful, silky, very aromatic, La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou seduces with its bouquet, its balance, its remarkable finesse and its long finish. A great cuvée that excites and then excites the senses; it's the perfect introduction to the Borie signature.
| Type of Wine | Red |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Bordeaux |
| Appellation | Saint-Julien |
| Winery | Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou |
| Grape | Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Drinking as of | 2022 |
| Drinking till | 2054 |
| Alcohol % | 14 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 93 |
| James Suckling rating | 95 |
| Tasting Profiles | Complex, Donker fruit, Droog, Houtgerijpt, Krachtig, Mineraal, Tannines |
| Drink moments | Indruk maken, Lekker luxe, Open haard |
Rating
(91 - 93)
Release Price
NA
Drink Date
NA
Reviewed by
Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Issue Date
23rd Apr 2019
Source
April 2019 Week 4 - Bordeaux 2018, The Wine Advocate
This is not a second wine as such, because it comes from a dedicated part of the vineyard, located on the south bank of La Mouline. The 2018 La Croix de Beaucaillou is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, to be aged 12 months in 60% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.75, 15% alcohol and an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 96. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little closed and broody to begin, offering subtle notions of fertile loam, tobacco, truffles and cast iron pan with a core of crème de cassis, blackberry compote and boysenberries with hints of underbrush and bay leaves. Full, rich and seductive in the mouth, it has firm, rounded tannins and just enough freshness to lift the dense fruit to a long finish.
“We had less mildew pressure here, less humidity,” said Ducru-Beaucaillou proprietor Bruno Borie. “Being close to the estuary helps. In September, when you have a little wind, you can lose a little weight to dehydration. We harvested very small berries, so the ratio of skin to juice was high. Interestingly, the pips were ripe before the skins. This was another paradox this year—it sets a new standard.”
Borie’s estate averaged 35 hectoliters per hectare in 2018. “The berry sorting was probably the task that was most involved,” he went on to tell me. “We want to translate with maximum essence and purity. It begins in the vineyard. We have the same team of pickers that have come from Andalucía for many years. They are very careful. Then hand sorting—very severe. We have increased the size of our sorting table. Before, it was eight meters, now it is 24 meters.”
“The temperature of the berries prior to fermentation was key," he continued. "We had to cool the berries with dry ice because it was very warm when we were harvesting. We didn’t want the fermentation to take off too quickly. But the biggest challenge was the extraction. The team tasted the vats every day during pumping over. We tried to extract tannins at the beginning, before the alcohol arrived, because with the higher alcohols you can extract too much. The skins were very ripe, the pips were ripe, but the risk was taking too much.”
Bruno Borie and his team completed blending by the end of February.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
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The Borie family has now owned this stately château for three generations, overlooking the Gironde. Since he took over the château in 2003, Bruno Borie has had only one goal: to make Ducru-Beaucaillou one of the best wines in the Médoc. The vineyards are planted with cabernet sauvignon (70%) and merlot (30%). As the name of the château implies, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is blessed with a grand pebble-rich terroir that produces perfect cabernet sauvignon. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou takes its name from its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux Cailloux", in French) which geologists less romantically refer to as Gunzian gravel. These quartz pebbles were deposited by the ancient Garonne at the beginning of the early Quaternary, some two million years ago. It is enough to take a walk through the vineyards to find rich lithological finds. Lydian jasper from the Pyrenees, flint, quartz, agatoids ... This Gunzian gravel creates soils poor in plant nutrients. But it is precisely their agricultural scarcity that guarantees the qualitative excellence of the wines. A choice from nature.
At Ducru-Beaucaillou, excellence is formed inch by inch thanks to an understanding of what the vines have to offer. Experience, intuition, asking questions, for a symbiosis with Mother Earth; people only pass through these noble terroirs. Since nature is a "subject of law", every procedure in the vineyard respects the entire ecosystem: herbicides have been abandoned in favor of mechanical weeds and judicious turf; replacing chemical fertilizers with manure and quality compost; insecticides with pheromones to control vine moths or kaolin clay to lure the green locust. Measures to facilitate aeration and sun exposure of the bunches, to avoid Botrytis and, if applicable, bacilli. Constant monitoring of available nitrogen before harvest. Reasonable viticulture, which earned the property ISO 14001 certification in 2016, supplemented with HVE3 certification (high environmental value level 3) since 2017.
The wines of La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou come from the vineyard of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. This exceptional terroir of the Médoc is located between the river Gironde to the east, the center and the west of the Saint-Julien appellation. The estate takes its name from its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux cailloux", in French) which, due to their high quartz content, provide soils that are poor in plant nutrients.
It is precisely this "agrological" scarcity, as the late professor and geographer from Bordeaux, René Pijassou, described it, that makes them so suitable for the production of good wine. To the east, the plots are planted along the rolling Médoc ridges, just above the estuary, while those in the epicenter benefit from a microclimate fed by the small stream of La Mouline that meanders through the center of the appellation from west to east before it disappears in the Gironde.
The La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is a fine wine that perfectly expresses its exceptional terroir. This is not a second wine as such, as it comes from a dedicated part of the vineyard, located on the south bank of La Mouline. La Croix de Beaucaillou 2018 is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, aged for 12 months in 60% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.75, 15% alcohol. Deep garnet purple colored it is in the glass and in the nose it still needs to open a little but with time and oxygen this great St Julien opens very elegantly with subtle notes of fertile loam, tobacco, truffles with a core of crème de cassis, blackberry compote and blueberries with hints of undergrowth and bay leaves. Full, rich and seductive on the palate, with firm, round tannins and enough freshness to give the dense fruit a long finish. Powerful, silky, very aromatic, La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou seduces with its bouquet, its balance, its remarkable finesse and its long finish. A great cuvée that excites and then excites the senses; it's the perfect introduction to the Borie signature.
| Type of Wine | Red |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Bordeaux |
| Appellation | Saint-Julien |
| Winery | Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou |
| Grape | Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Drinking as of | 2022 |
| Drinking till | 2054 |
| Alcohol % | 14 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 93 |
| James Suckling rating | 95 |
| Tasting Profiles | Complex, Donker fruit, Droog, Houtgerijpt, Krachtig, Mineraal, Tannines |
| Drink moments | Indruk maken, Lekker luxe, Open haard |
Rating
(91 - 93)
Release Price
NA
Drink Date
NA
Reviewed by
Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Issue Date
23rd Apr 2019
Source
April 2019 Week 4 - Bordeaux 2018, The Wine Advocate
This is not a second wine as such, because it comes from a dedicated part of the vineyard, located on the south bank of La Mouline. The 2018 La Croix de Beaucaillou is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, to be aged 12 months in 60% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.75, 15% alcohol and an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 96. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little closed and broody to begin, offering subtle notions of fertile loam, tobacco, truffles and cast iron pan with a core of crème de cassis, blackberry compote and boysenberries with hints of underbrush and bay leaves. Full, rich and seductive in the mouth, it has firm, rounded tannins and just enough freshness to lift the dense fruit to a long finish.
“We had less mildew pressure here, less humidity,” said Ducru-Beaucaillou proprietor Bruno Borie. “Being close to the estuary helps. In September, when you have a little wind, you can lose a little weight to dehydration. We harvested very small berries, so the ratio of skin to juice was high. Interestingly, the pips were ripe before the skins. This was another paradox this year—it sets a new standard.”
Borie’s estate averaged 35 hectoliters per hectare in 2018. “The berry sorting was probably the task that was most involved,” he went on to tell me. “We want to translate with maximum essence and purity. It begins in the vineyard. We have the same team of pickers that have come from Andalucía for many years. They are very careful. Then hand sorting—very severe. We have increased the size of our sorting table. Before, it was eight meters, now it is 24 meters.”
“The temperature of the berries prior to fermentation was key," he continued. "We had to cool the berries with dry ice because it was very warm when we were harvesting. We didn’t want the fermentation to take off too quickly. But the biggest challenge was the extraction. The team tasted the vats every day during pumping over. We tried to extract tannins at the beginning, before the alcohol arrived, because with the higher alcohols you can extract too much. The skins were very ripe, the pips were ripe, but the risk was taking too much.”
Bruno Borie and his team completed blending by the end of February.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Sign in to unlock professional wine reviews from world-renowned critics
The Borie family has now owned this stately château for three generations, overlooking the Gironde. Since he took over the château in 2003, Bruno Borie has had only one goal: to make Ducru-Beaucaillou one of the best wines in the Médoc. The vineyards are planted with cabernet sauvignon (70%) and merlot (30%). As the name of the château implies, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is blessed with a grand pebble-rich terroir that produces perfect cabernet sauvignon. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou takes its name from its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux Cailloux", in French) which geologists less romantically refer to as Gunzian gravel. These quartz pebbles were deposited by the ancient Garonne at the beginning of the early Quaternary, some two million years ago. It is enough to take a walk through the vineyards to find rich lithological finds. Lydian jasper from the Pyrenees, flint, quartz, agatoids ... This Gunzian gravel creates soils poor in plant nutrients. But it is precisely their agricultural scarcity that guarantees the qualitative excellence of the wines. A choice from nature.
At Ducru-Beaucaillou, excellence is formed inch by inch thanks to an understanding of what the vines have to offer. Experience, intuition, asking questions, for a symbiosis with Mother Earth; people only pass through these noble terroirs. Since nature is a "subject of law", every procedure in the vineyard respects the entire ecosystem: herbicides have been abandoned in favor of mechanical weeds and judicious turf; replacing chemical fertilizers with manure and quality compost; insecticides with pheromones to control vine moths or kaolin clay to lure the green locust. Measures to facilitate aeration and sun exposure of the bunches, to avoid Botrytis and, if applicable, bacilli. Constant monitoring of available nitrogen before harvest. Reasonable viticulture, which earned the property ISO 14001 certification in 2016, supplemented with HVE3 certification (high environmental value level 3) since 2017.
