Château Ducru-Beaucaillou vertical tasting: 1953-2018

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou belongs to the hallowed ranks of the so-called Bordeaux Super Seconds, and Bruno Borie - its family owner and director - held a spectacular vertical tasting with the announced objective being to gain an understanding of how both the wines and their style have evolved over the years at this elite estate. Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou [subscriber-content]Ducru-Beaucaillou’s international reputation is embodied as much by its prestigious wine production as the château’s landmark array of flags - representing some two dozen countries around the world - that flutter in the breezes from the nearby Gironde estuary. Borie is known for adding a touch of theatricality during the en primeur campaign every year, and he structured this tasting as four acts composed of thirteen flights, presenting thirty-nine vintages. It would take a whole book to tell properly the history of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, but a turning point was the arrival of the Borie family in 1942 after Francis Borie (grandfather of Bruno) took charge of the estate by means of a leasing contract leading to future ownership, a status known in France as fermage viager. [caption id="attachment_486158" align="alignnone" width="600"] Bruno Borie. Credit: Château Ducru-Beaucaillou[/caption] The Ducru transformation For me, this impressive vertical transcribes marvellously in liquid form not only the history of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou itself, but also that of Bordeaux wines and their evolution over the same decades, as fashionable trends and tastes changed. It is possible to divide this period of change into three distinct parts. From 1953 to 1982, it was the era during which Emile Peynaud, a major figure of modern oenology, played a leading role as consultant to Francis Borie and then to Jean-Eugène Borie (Bruno's father). The goal was to produce riper but also more balanced wines with a capacity for ageing, and to do so Peynaud implemented an approach that was considered game-changing for the whole Médoc region. Unfortunately, some of the wines produced at the end of this Peynaud period are tainted by TCA , the dreaded molecule that can be present in corks but also in the wooden beams of technical facilities, as was then the case at Ducru-Beaucaillou, which was unknowingly infected. Nevertheless, this was a crucial, groundbreaking era at the estate. [caption id="attachment_425642" align="alignnone" width="600"] Credit: Château Ducru-Beaucaillou[/caption] From 1982 to 2000 was the era when the expanding wine market was accompanied - even boosted - by the rise of influential wine critics. To a large degree, the priority in Bordeaux seemed to become not so much about making the best wine possible as to obtain the highest critical score possible, especially from Robert Parker , about whom the American magazine The Atlantic made the observation that 'the most influential critic in the world today happens to be a critic of wine.' Some producers went so far as to seek a more opulent style that they hoped would garner higher scores by increasing the degree of grape ripeness and the percentage of new oak for barrel ageing. All of Bordeaux felt the impact of this trend, even those producers who did not succumb to the temptation. Ducru-Beaucaillou was no exception. Unfortunately, it is difficult to judge its disappointing wines of Bordeaux’s celebrated trio of vintages - 1988,1989 and1990 - as most bottles were affected by the dreaded TCA taint mentioned above. There are, however, remarkable wines from the period of 1995 to 2000 after the conditions for contamination were eradicated by the building of new winemaking facilities, replacing the barrels, and making a more careful selection of corks. [caption id="attachment_486161" align="alignnone" width="600"] The Gironde estuary. Credit: Château Ducru-Beaucaillou[/caption] The modern day Lastly comes the contemporary period beginning in 2003, when Bruno Borie took charge of the estate and further restored the lustre of Ducru-Beaucaillou’s reputation, especially with the vintages from 2007 to 2009 that raised the standards of excellence even higher. Borie was determined to push the boundaries of quality and produce great wines, not only with even more depth of character and clearer terroir expression, but also silkier tannins than in the past. To achieve his goal, he restructured the vineyard to calibrate a better match between grape varieties and soil types. Borie also lowered yields while gauging optimal levels of grape ripeness, fine-tuning the whole approach as part of his uncompromising quest to achieve the highest quality possible. Without a doubt, Ducru-Beaucaillou was soon back among the happy few of elite Bordeaux wines. [/subscriber-content] See tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou [wine-collection] Related content Buy tickets to the Château Ducru-Beaucaillou masterclass at DFWE London Remembering Clive Coates MW, an authority on Burgundy and Bordeaux Price key as top wines set for La Place de Bordeaux release – Liv-ex

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Château Ducru-Beaucaillou vertical tasting: 1953-2018

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

See tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Related content

Buy tickets to the Château Ducru-Beaucaillou masterclass at DFWE London

Remembering Clive Coates MW, an authority on Burgundy and Bordeaux

Price key as top wines set for La Place de Bordeaux release – Liv-ex

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