Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - Saint-Julien (Grand Cru Classé) 2016 (750ml)

Add to Wish List

Price: $349.99

Producer	Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Country	France
Region	Bordeaux
Subregion	Saint-Julien
Varietal	Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage	2016
Sku	111574
Size	750ml
ABV	13.50%

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Description

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is a winery in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is also the name of the red wine produced by this property.

The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growths) in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is named after the beautiful, large stones found in its unique wine-growing terroir. This exceptionnal ecosystem produces fine, elegant, tasty wines, with a long finish – in short, archetypal Saint-Julien wines.

Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the centre of a hundred-year-old park, Ducru-Beaucaillou is a majestic, Victorian-style castle, which has, over time, become one of the great symbols of the Médoc. Unusually for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years, in the sumptuous aromas of their wine. Today, the estate is managed by the company Jean Eugène Borie SA, which is owned by Mrs Borie, her daughter Sabine Coiffe and her son Bruno-Eugène. CEO since 2003, the third generation of the Borie family to head the estate. There are very close links between this estate and the five families who have been its successive owners.

The history of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is closely linked with that of the five families who have owned it and lived in it since it was built in 1720. One of the 61 red ‘grands crus’ classified as a second cru in the famous Bordeaux Wine Classification of 1855, it has been in the Borie family for over 60 years. Today, while many Bordeaux chateaux are owned by remote conglomerates or absent landowners, the borie family lives on the estate on a daily basis and continues to put its imprint on his highly reputed estate, with the assistance of loyal and enthusiastic team.

At the tasting, Château Ducru Beaucaillou offers a wine with aromas of cedar and the texture of a first-growth breed.

Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot

Critical Acclaim

JD100
Jeb Dunnuck
Reminding me of the 2010 with its incredible stature and class (as opposed to the more opulently styled 2009), the 2016 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is a legendary wine from the genius of Bruno Borie, who has managed this estate brilliantly since he arrived in 2003. A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot brought up all in new oak, the 2016 has a mammoth bouquet of crème de cassis, espresso, camphor, crushed violets, toasty oak, and graphite. Full-bodied, concentrated, and backward on the palate, it nevertheless has perfectly integrated acidity and building tannins, a concentrated, layered texture, off-the-charts purity of fruit, and a finish that won't quit. Give this powerful, concentrated wine a solid 7-8 years of bottle age and enjoy it over the following 50 years or more.
JS99
James Suckling
Super perfumed, attractive violets with a thread of fresh blueberries, cassis, blackberries and dark plums, delivering a very enticing impression. Beautiful ripeness here. The tannins are perfectly ripe and layers meld into each other, carrying deep, graceful and plush, velvety dark fruit long into the vibrant and seductive, chocolate-laced finish. Great potential. Try from 2024.
RP98
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep purple-black in color, the 2016 Ducru-Beaucaillou delivers a pronounced, enticing nose of baked plums, blueberry preserves, fruitcake and boysenberry with suggestions of lilacs, mocha, hoisin and exotic spices plus a waft of cedar chest. Full-bodied, rich and opulent in the mouth, the palate has layer upon layer of black fruit preserves and spicy nuances, matched by a very firm, grainy frame, finishing with epic length and depth.
Rating: 98+
WE98
Wine Enthusiast
This wine conveys density but its richness is sublimated by the complex structure and beautiful ripe fruit. Its power comes from the structure as much as the fruit, promising a wine with an immensely long life ahead of it. Drink from 2025.
Cellar Selection
WS97
Wine Spectator
Offers exotic, cashmere-textured, mocha-infused blackberry, cassis and plum puree flavors, with smoldering incense and warm fruitcake notes and a swath of plush yet serious grip too boot, showing ample depth and breath. As distinctive a Bordeaux as there is these days. Best from 2025 through 2040.
D97
Decanter
Bruno Borie and technical director Emmanuel Bonneau crafted this exquisite wine together in 2016. The nose is ripe but still stern, with oaky blackcurrant and blackberry. Very concentrated, but also velvety and succulent, it shows admirable tension, muscle and depth. Very youthful and chewy, but not extracted – and it retains that quintessential St-Julien finesse. Drinking Window 2025 - 2050