Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Bordeaux Vertical Tasting with Special Guest Tracey Dobbin, MW

 

"Never understood a single word he said but I helped him drink his wine…and he always had some mighty fine wine." -- 3 Dog Night

 

And I know our “Wine Drinking People” have a lot of fine wines in their cellar – that is what our “Collector Series” wine tastings are all about…Sharing the wealth!!

 

 

We are big fans of Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou so when I heard that Tracey Dobbin, MW was in town I said it’s time for a Collectors series tasting with one of the great Chateau of Bordeaux.  I knew that we had a lot of Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou collectors out there that would love to bring a bottle out of their cellar to share with our group on Saturday, November 15^th.

 

 

Our collector series tasting event is where we ask you “Wine Drinking People”, to come up with some wine from your wine collection to add to the party in exchange for your ticket to the event.  That’s correct the collector series tasting portion of the event is FREE, all it will cost you is one bottle of Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou from your cellar!!  Don’t sweat it if you don’t have a bottle of Ducru Beaucaillou in your cellar we have a few bottles in our collection that are available to purchase for this event on this offering.

 

 

 

 

 

Chateau Ducru Collectors Series Bordeaux Wine Tasting

with Special Guest Cathleen Burke-Visscher

Saturday November 15th

7:30pm

 

 

Let me explain further- this is a two-part event:

 

 

Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Collectors Tasting Part 1

 

The first part of the evening begins at 7:30pm, this is where we will be tasting through a selection of new releases from the Chateau that are listed below.  This tasting will take place at the bar and we will serve a selection of cheese and charcuterie to accompany these wines as our guests arrive.

 

 

2019 Madame De Beaucaillou Haut Medoc

Price: $34.50                Your Price: $30.36

 

Color bright, deep, purple. Very charming and refined nose. Fresh, fruity, underpinned by a note of French oak, Morello cherry jam, violet. Spicy notes on aeration. Clean attack, silky tannins. A pleasurable wine, delicious, subtle and seductive. Beautiful harmony and elegant femininity.

 

 

 

2018 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Le Petit Ducru St. Julien

Price: $48.50                                       Your Price: $42.68

(90 Points) A newcomer to the Ducru-Beaucaillou stable, Le Petit Ducru wine was formerly called Lalande-Borie. It is essentially a third wine, coming from part of the vineyard of Ducru-Beaucaillou. The 2018 Le Petit Ducru is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged for 12 months in barrel, in one-third new oak. It has an alcohol of 14.5%. Deep garnet-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with wonderfully pure scents of black and red currants, black raspberries and mulberries plus suggestions of tobacco leaf, bay leaves and fertile loam. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-filling juicy black fruits flavors with soft tannin's and just enough freshness, finishing with an herbal lift.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2019 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Le Petit Ducru St. Julien

Price: $52.50                                       Your Price: $46.20                            Quantity in Stock: 8

(90 Points) Notes of blackberries, plums, pencil shavings and violets introduce the 2019 Le Petit Ducru, a medium to full-bodied, velvety and sensual wine that's lively and concentrated, its ample core of fruit largely concealing an abundance of ripe, powdery tannin. It's a Merlot-based blend that includes declassified lots of La Croix and Ducru-Beaucaillou itself. Best after 2021.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

 

2015 Chateau La Croix Ducru Beaucaillou St Julien

Price: $93.00                                       Your Price: $81.84

 

The 2015 La Croix de Beaucaillou is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. It has a floral note on the nose: small black cherries, blueberry and wilted violets, the last becoming more intense as the initially tight-fisted wine opens in the glass.

The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannin. There is very well-judged acidity and its texture is harmonious and silky smooth. The quality is loaded more in the mouth than on the nose at the moment, but it is a seriously classy "deuxième vin" that just needs a little more persistence on the finish.

 

 

Part Two: Dinner Featuring wines from your cellars

 

 

The price of admission is one bottle of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou from your cellar, but here is the catch- we only need 1 bottle of each wine, so the longer you wait to respond the harder it will be to get a seat as you will have to go further back in time because the youngest vintages will be filled up by the first collectors who respond.

 

Here are the vintages that we have already:

 

 

1986 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien

1990 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien

1996 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien

2017 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien

2003 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien

2000 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien

 

I will add the vintages as people respond with the vintage they are bringing. 

 

 

 

**There are only 16 spaces available for this event.

 

The dinner starts at 8:00pm Toni Lampasone will be making a special menu to accompany the vertical selection of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou from your cellars.  The fee for the dinner is $150 + tax.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

 

 

Menu

 

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie

Prosciutto wrapped Burrata grilled in Romain Lettuce with Sundried Tomato Balsamic Vinaigrette

Beef Tartar served on Bone Marrow with Truffle Aioli and Whole Wheat Toast

Duck Confit with Currant Demi and Pomme Frits

Canele Cakes with Rum Pineapple Sauce

 

 

The fee for this event which includes dinner is $150 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies and chef Toni will be happy to accommodate you.

 

 

 

 

A bit about Ducru Beaucaillou:

 

Ducru-Beaucaillou occupies one of the great settings in the Medoc.  The chateau is one of the most beautiful in Bordeaux, and the rather distinctive Victorian mansion commands a beautiful view of the Gironde River across some low meadows.  The word Beaucaillou translates in French to "beautiful pebble".  Just to the south is the beautiful Chateau Beycheville with its stunning manicured gardens.  Just to the north lies the vineyards of the great Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases, a chateau that often rivals the great Medoc first growths.  In the early part of the nineteenth century this property was known as Bergeron; but when it came into the possession of the Ducru family, their name was adopted, together with that of Beaucaillou, the name the family gave to the place itself.  It was under Monsieur Ducru that that this vineyard received great care and improved its reputation considerably. 

 

When the great wines of the Medoc were classified in 1855, Ducru was accorded second growth status and was recognized as one of the five leading St. Juliens.  Between the two world wars, the reputation of Ducru-Beaucaillou declined considerably.  After the Second World War, it came under the management of Jean-Eugene Borie, whose father had purchased the property.  Jean-Eugene Borie, known as a devoted winelover and a man driven to excellence, immediately began a concerted effort to regain Ducru's lost position of esteem.  The watershed year for Ducru came in 1953; that vintage did more than anything else to reestablish the reputation and standing of Ducru-Beaucaillou.  The 1961 was entered in an important blind tasting in Holland in 1978, where it placed first among ten leading growths of the 1961 vintage; it was then placed on a par with the first growths in the second half of the tasting.  In most of the important vintages since 1961, Ducru-Beaucaillou has been among the leading ten or fifteen wines of Bordeaux.  Bob Parker, in his exciting and comprehensive new book called BORDEAUX, has stated that many vintages (from 1961 onward) of Ducru "can challenge any of the Medoc first growths."  Although our tasting experience is not as broad and does not go back as far as other wine authorities, we would have to concur with Mr. Parker on recent vintages of Ducru-Beaucaillou.  Of course, the tremendous improvement in quality has not been lost on close followers of the Bordeaux scene.  Over the years, the price of Ducru has increased dramatically.  Along with Leoville-Las-Cases and Gruaud-Larose, Ducru-Beaucaillou is considered one of the jewels of St. Julien.  All three chateaux have been producing outstanding wines in the last few vintages.  The positioning of Ducru-Beaucaillou near the river seems to make it a little lighter in breed and more elegant than the typical softer, fruitier St. Juliens. (Chateaux further inland seem to produce softer, fruitier wines.)  In their youth the wines of Ducru are a little hard and unyielding (although not as hard as those of Leoville-Las-Cases); and in a good vintage it usually takes about eight or ten years for the wines to approach maturity (in great vintages the wait can be 15 years.)  However, the wait is well worth it; these wines often develop into great clarets.

 

 

All the Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Available at Wine Watch:

 

 

 

1982 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $1140.00                  Your Price: $1003.20

(96 Points) At a charity dinner in Charleston, SC, the 1982 Ducru Beaucaillou from my cellar was the only corked bottle out of twenty-two. A subsequent tasting revealed one of the all-time great Ducrus, probably matched or eclipsed by several recent vintages (i.e., 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008). The 1982 is still 5-8 years away from full maturity, but it exhibits a dense ruby/plum/garnet color to the rim as well as a sweet perfume of forest floor, spice box, cedar, and copious quantities of black fruits. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully pure with sweet tannins, this wine has aged more slowly than I initially expected. It is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou produced after the 1961 and before the 2003. With respect to the 1990, I do not own any of this wine, but it was the last of a series of vintages between 1986 and 1990 that were affected by the TCA-like contamination in the estate’s chai, which was completely destroyed and then rebuilt, eliminating the source of these smells. Not every bottle is affected by this, but I do not have any source for this vintage. Release price: ($140.00/case) Wine Advocate # 183, Jun 2009

 

1985 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $558.00                    Your Price: $491.04

(90 Points) Proprietor Bruno Borie mentioned that this was a late vintage. They started to pick on 30th September, finishing on 11th October. He didn't have exact grape percentages for this year, but he thinks it is probably 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. Pale to medium brick-brown colored, the 1985 Ducru-Beaucaillou slowly unfurls to reveal notes of Christmas pudding, dried cranberries and bouquet garni with nuances of cast iron pan, dusty soil and woodsmoke. Medium-bodied, the palate has a firm, chewy backbone and oodles of freshness with a core of dried herbs and stewed tea and a slightly rustic finish. -Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

1986 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St Julien

Price: $705.00                    Your Price: $620.40                          Quantity in Stock: 2

(94 Points) Medium brick in color with a touch of brown, the 1986 Ducru-Beaucaillou reveals growing notes of dried mulberries, kirsch and raisin cake with nuances of celery salt, dried bay leaves, truffles and charcuterie plus hints of old leather sofa and fallen leaves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has quite a powerful structure with firm, chewy tannins and bold freshness supporting the muscular, dried berries flavors, finishing long with a dried mint kick.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

1988 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien, France

Price: $558.00                    Your Price: $491.04

(93 Points) This is a little softer than the 1986, with coffee, plum and cassis notes. It's highly appealing right now, sweet and caressing as it opens in the glass, but this is one to drink within the next five to 10 years. The exact blend was not recorded, so the blend shown reflects the vineyard plantings, with 5% Petit Verdot. (JA)  Decanter, Review Date: 05/2019

 

2000 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $578.75                    Your Price: $509.30

(95 points) A stunning wine from Ducru Beaucaillou which showcases its great terroir, this elegant but substantial 2000 has a dense purple color that has hardly budged since it was first bottled. Displaying a floral note, with hints of boysenberries, black raspberries, black currants and a touch of background oak, the wine has superb concentration and density, but still has some substantial tannins that are not yet fully resolved. I originally predicted that it should be drinkable from 2010-2030, but I would modify that now to 2015-2035. Wine Advocate #189 Jun 2010

 

2003 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St Julien

Price: $395.00                    Your Price: $347.60                          Quantity in Stock: 6

(96 Points) One of the most compelling Ducru Beaucaillou’s made in the last quarter century is the 2003 (which is also the first vintage to be packaged in an impressive heavy glass bottle with a special long cork). A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, it is a powerful, tannic, blockbuster effort revealing a liqueur of mineral-like component intermixed with creme de cassis, raspberry, and flower characteristics, and an atypically high 13.5% alcohol. Having firmed up considerably since bottling, it exhibits tremendous definition, weight, and concentration. It is a wine for patient connoisseurs. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025 . A brilliant tour de force! Wine Advocate # 164, Apr 2006

 

2006 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $423.00                    Your Price: $372.24

(94 Points) Deep garnet in color, the 2006 Ducru-Beaucaillou delivers expressive Black Forest cake, blackcurrant cordial and chocolate box scents with touches of fertile loam, espresso, Marmite toast and black olives. Medium-bodied, the palate is elegantly played with vibrant fruit expression and a firm, grainy texture, finishing with a lively lift.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2008 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $405.00                    Your Price: $356.40

(94 Points) Deep garnet colored, the 2008 Ducru-Beaucaillou begins a little broody, giving up glimpses of tar, chargrill, moss covered tree bark and fungi scents over a core of baked plums, warm cassis and blackberry compote plus a touch of unsmoked cigars. Medium-bodied, the palate has firm, ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness supporting the earth laced black fruit layers, finishing minerally.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2009 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St Julien

Price: $633.75                    Your Price: $557.70

(100 points) The 2009 Ducru Beaucaillou will eclipse the brilliant wines produced in 2005, 2003 and 2000. It will be interesting to see how the 2009 fares against the 2010 after 20 years of aging, but my money is on the 2009. A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot that achieved 13.5% natural alcohol, this inky purple, unctuous wine possesses classic aromas of graphite, creme de cassis, blueberries, violets, licorice and Christmas fruitcake. Full-bodied and intense with Ducru’s inimitable elegance and purity, it should firm up in the bottle after 7-10 years of cellaring and last for 40-50 years. Magnificent! (RP) (2/2012) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2010 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St Julien

Price: $516.00                    Your Price: $454.08

(98 Points) With loads of minerality, a terrific opaque purple color, and slightly more structure and tannin than either Poyferre or St.-Pierre (and that's saying something), this is a blockbuster, fabulous Ducru Beaucaillou that should be at its best a good decade from now and last 40-50 years. The proprietor is not alone in thinking this is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou since the 1961. The classic wet rock, creme de cassis, subtle oak and gravelly stoniness of the vineyard come through in this spectacular, full-bodied, gorgeously pure and intense effort. This is wine for the ages that should be forgotten for at least a decade. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2014 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $375.00                    Your Price: $330.00

(95 Points) Very deep garnet in color, the 2014 Ducru-Beaucaillou springs from the glass, offering vibrant notions of fresh black currants, black cherries and black raspberries with touches of spice box, licorice and fragrant soil plus a waft of lavender. Medium-bodied, the palate bursts with lively, crunchy black fruits, supported by ripe, grainy tannins and finishing on a lingering spicy note.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2015 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien

Price: $420.00                    Your Price: $369.60

(97 Points) Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Ducru-Beaucaillou rocks up with flamboyant baked black plums, crème de cassis, blueberry compote and chocolate-covered cherries scents plus hints of cinnamon stick, black tea and candied violets. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is laden with black fruit preserves and spicy accents, with a firm, velvety frame and finishing with great length and perfume. Ideally, I'd give it another year to fan out just a bit more, but it is coming around nicely and is already fantastically delicious!  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2017 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien

Price: $300.00                    Your Price: $264.00

(98 Points) One of the wines of the vintage in the Medoc, the 2017 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou comes from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot from tiny yields of 35 hectoliters per hectare. Brought up in new barrels, it offers stunning notes of pure creme de cassis, unsmoked tobacco, lead pencil, and crushed rocks. Showing a touch of spring flowers with air, full-bodied richness and depth, awesome tannin quality, and a laser-like level of precision and purity, it’s going to need a decade of cellaring yet will have 40-50 years of prime drinking. Hats off to proprietor Bruno Borie for another magical wine.  Jeb Dunnuck

 

2018 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou St. Julien 3 Liter

Price: $1488.00                  Your Price: $1309.44                        Quantity in Stock: 1

(98 Points) 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 crème 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 wine—surprising freshness—and yet it remains very rich and hedonic, presenting an extraordinary vinous paradox that will blow away fans of this great estate. (LPB) Robert Parker Wine Advocate

 

2020 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien

Price: $375.00                    Your Price: $330.00

(98 Points) An amazing Ducru, one of the wines of the vintage. Hugely persistent, chiselled and precise, yet succulent in its berry and cassis fruit character. The slate and pencil lead finish slows things down and grabs hold of you, I love the push-and-pull of the tannins. Always a confident and well-finessed wine, really flexing its muscles in 2020. 100% new oak barrels. – Decanter

 

2021 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien

Price: $278.75                    Your Price: $245.30

(97 Points) Richly scented and vibrant nose of dark fruits, liquorice and cocoa. Supple and invigorating, fresh acidity lifting the expression, nuanced and detailed. Softly grained tannins have a chalky aspect giving structure and a filling texture, lots of graphite and wet stones with black berry notes and such energy throughout. Juicy and alive, this is classic in the best sense, and has immediate charm but with the potential to age. I also love the fresh, zesty orange aspects and cool lift throughout. - Decanter