Tasting Notes
JancisRobinson.com – 17
‘A successful flowering, though the wet spring weather brought a significant threat of mildew. A glorious summer with hot, dry conditions and just enough rain from early July through to the end of harvest in October, with record hours of sunshine. Optimal harvest conditions.’ Harvest: 25 September – 10 October. 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot. 18 months in new French oak.Very dark, gleaming crimson. Deep, dark and savoury on the nose. Lots of creamy, oaky power here. Deep, thick, chewy texture. Incredibly smooth texture to these tannins but they are dominant. Ripe and dark but not sweet in its fruit. So chewy and dense that it gums your gums, for now at least. (JH)
Anticipated maturity: 2030-2045
Vinous – 97
The 2018 Ducru-Beaucaillou, tasted just after my in-bottle tastings, is all mint and violet over the nose, precocious and generous, very pure and enticing. The palate is medium-bodied with a lot of new oak that will be subsumed with time. This is very pure, beautifully balanced, silky smooth with great precision on the finish. It is a superb 2018 that will need at least a decade in the cellar and with even more pixelation than the bottle earlier this year, it gets another precision point in my score. Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the chateau.
Anticipated maturity: 2030-2055
Robert Parker – 98
The 2018 Ducru-Beaucaillou is composed of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot, aged 18 months in 100% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.7, 14.5% alcohol and an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 95. Deep purple-black colored, it has a powerful nose of baked black cherries, blackberry preserves and creme de cassis with nuances of menthol, pencil lead, cedar chest and Indian spices, plus fragrant wafts of violets and licorice emerging after a few minutes. Medium to full-bodied, the palate bursts with impactful black fruits and exotic spices layers, supported by firm, ripe grainy tannins and bags of freshness, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note. There is a brightness to the winea surprising freshnessa and yet it remains very rich and hedonic, presenting an extraordinary vinous paradox that will blow away fans of this great estate.
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2055
