Ducru Beaucaillou 2018 (750ML)

100 DE / 100 WE / 100 JD / 99 JS / 98 WA / 97 JA / 97 VM / 96-99 WS

#6 Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2021
#14 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of France 2021
#45 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of 2021

One of the greatest wines that this domain has produced in Bruno Borie's era, the 2018 Ducru-Beaucaillou sneaks up on you with this fabulous, yet singular bouquet of spices, iris, violet, dark cherry and blackcurrant. The oak is perfectly integrated and intertwined with graphite notes with time. The palate is concentrated but brimming with energy, yet what really stands out is its confounding freshness as well as the finesse and precise contours of the tannic framework. An already profound wine that will reach new heights over the next two decades. - Yohan Castaing, Decanter

Vintage 2018 was generous to the style of Ducru-Beaucaillou. The rich character of wines from this estate is enhanced by the ripeness and concentration of this wine. At the same time it keeps an amazing freshness that comes out of the acidity. This wine will go down in the annals of this historic estate. It is not likely to approach drinkability before 2028. - Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast

Looking at the 2018 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, I was stopped in my tracks at this beauty and continue to think 2018 is an incredible vintage for Bordeaux. Checking in as 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot that was raised in new barrels, it has an essence of cassis character as well notes of tobacco leaf, dark chocolate, crushed stone, and cedar pencil. Cut from the same cloth as the 2009, although with slightly more polished tannins, it's full-bodied and massively concentrated and structured, yet flawlessly balanced, with incredible purity and no hard edges.--Jeb Dunnuck

Aromas of blackberries, blackcurrants, new leather and bark follow through to a full body with a dense, deep palate that goes on and on, but is still shy and reserved. Large amount of ultra fine, cashmere-like tannins that are silky, sleek and wonderfully integrated. Extremely long and focused. Needs at least four to five years to start opening. A beautiful wine for the cellar. Try after 2027. - James Suckling

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. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate

I know I need to keep this wine for at least another 6 to 8 years before opening the bottles that I have, and yet every time I return to taste it, the concentration of sweet blueberry and blackcurrant fruits make it hard not to pull the cork today. It's an exceptional Ducru, with layers of gourmet olive tapenade, cocoa bean, liquorice, charcoal and smoked cedar oak, with plentiful but well polished tannins, and a sense of finesse that places it firmly among the very best St Juliens. 100% new oak. This was the vintage with the longest hang time (120 days), highest alcohol and smallest berries on record - all adding up to something that could on paper veer towards excess but in the glass works perfectly. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

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 château. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

Another rock 'em sock 'em St.-Julien here, brimming with nearly exotic blackberry, plum, blueberry and açaí berry reduction notes, bristling with brambly energy and racing through a graphite-edged finish. Shows gorgeous perfume throughout, despite the fairly obvious level of concentration. - James Molesworth, Wine Spectator