Opened and slow-oxed for five hours. Beautiful blackish garnet color with a very enticing nose. On the palate mostly blackcurrants. Long finish. Superb wine worth looking for.
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JA, Here we see the potential of 2014 in the right hands, and this stands out from its neighbours in northern Médoc, one to note down and look out for. Silky tannins, a ton of cocoa bean, bitter chocolate and espresso, blueberry and cassis fruits, along with turmeric, liqourice and clove spice. Perfectly-pitched acidity that softens into capuccinno creaminess though the mid palate followed by a juicy signoff. Slow build, just delicious. 100% new oak. Eric Boissenot consultant, Virginie Sallette technical director.
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Bordeaux 2014, 10-years on tasted blind: Complex nose of forest floor, sweet spices, oak, dark fruit, complex. Succulent palate, elegant with very good aromatic complexity. Textbook Medoc. My personal WOTN and also Group Rank 1/15
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Bordeaux 2014 - 10 Years On - 15 Reds: Fifteen red wines (14 left bank/1 right bank). All tasted blind. The 2014 vintage turned out to be good, but not exceptional. This vintage is characterized by a cool, classic style with an impressive expression of fresh fruit. The wines were rich in blue fruit, supported by a fine mineral backbone, without succumbing to overripeness or overbearing fruitiness. Contrary to expectations, the wines were not overly austere and showed good (excellent at the top) tannin structure, contributing to a classic Bordeaux experience. However, it's important to note that while these wines have commendable qualities, they lack the complexity and, to a lesser extent, the finesse and elegance characteristic of the most celebrated vintages. Many of the wines seemed a bit simplistic. I think they are likely to peak in the early rather than mature into 30, 40, 50-year wines as I don’t think there is enough fruit. My top three were a layered, blue-fruited Ducru Beaucaillou, a strawberry-laden, purity-driven Montrose (both rated 94pts), and an elegant Pichon Lalande (93pts), foreshadowing the great things this estate has produced in vintages since. The group winner was also the Ducru.
TN: Medium+ expressive nose with mostly dark berries and some blue fruit and a bit of minerality. The palate was quite strong with lots of dark berries, fresh dark berries, intense fresh and slightly candied blue fruit, minerality, some earthy notes and just a hint of luxurious oak. Even though the wine had been decanted for two hours, it was getting better by the minute. Highly precise rainbow of fresh fruit, superb minerality at the core with plenty of elegance and finesse in the structure and a long-lingering finish. The most complete wine of the tasting.
Decanting: Decanted for 2 hours, would have needed used 3 to 4.
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Surprisingly precocious, the wine already expresses charm, round, soft tannins, layers of black currants, cocoa, espresso, and blackberries. Round, soft, and forward, this is good to go now and is only going to get better with a few more years of cellaring. Drink from 2023-2040.
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Either this clenched up more than my last bottle or it was a bit too cold. A serious wine for sure, but I’m having to look between the lines to see Bordeaux. Deep and complex , with hints of graphite, and some night flowers in the distance. Definitely got better as we worked our way to the bottom. I say HOLD and if you must break one out, let it come to room temperature and drink it patently for its best.
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Woof! Woof woof in a few years - and it might reach JS’s 99. Great balance. Dark berries, chocolate, leather etc but also a a refreshing earthiness which keeps the pallet elegant and light. Absolutely fantastic and a genuine experience.
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Anton’s Wine Tasting Notes Winery: Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Varietal: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot Area/Appellation:France/Bordeaux/Saint-Julien Vintage: 2014 Price: $130/Gary’s Wine and Spirits New Jersey circa 2017 Color: dark ruby with purple Legs: very slow Nose: nice blackberries, black cherries, cassis, currant, loam, earthy, wet stone, cedar, Palate: rich luscious a real showcase of dark black fruits (blackberries , cassis, black cherries, currant) with overtones of cedar, oak, licorice coffee, vanilla. There is a whole heck of a lot going on here, very multi dimensional. Finish: rich with cedar and cassis, currant, black licorice, coffee. The finish is nice, but it’s not real lengthy but it’s still very nice. It reflects the vintage. Comments: Great example of Saint Julien and a very interesting wildcard year. Despite the threat of mildew and rot with a very warm, very humid summer, created by spring rains, an Indian summer in September really paid off and created very ripe conditions. Pairing Suggestions: goat cheese, chateaubriand, homemade pot roast, beef Wellington, etc. Score in terms of Vintage: 93 Score for the Wine: 94 Value for the Money: Highly Recommended 😍 Date Tasted: 01/14/2023 Tasted by: ACK
Incredible aroma, deep, multi layered, complex and aristocratic. Various black and red fruits, spice, flowers, cedar, tobacco. Voluptuous, smooth, rich, deep, ripe, cool and succulent on the palate. A huge upside, although you can drink it now. 95 now and 97 in the future. Much more serious wine than Pontet Canet 2015 tasted side by side.
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Deep ruby in the glass. Super layered with an array of aromas that just keep coming from all over the place. Dense on the palate, but has this fine lift of freshness and elegance to it. Everything in balance. Open now, but you can age this nicely as well. Awesome wine, reminds me of a great rave that lasts long into the night.
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Ducru Beaucaillou, 2014: My third bottle of this fantastic wine. It has not closed down, still open for business. Absolutely delicious. It has a luxurious texture like liquid cashmere. Gorgeous perfume bouquet which is present as soon as the bottle is opened. Complex, deep rich flavors of cherry, plum, anise, cedar, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, cassis, blackberry. Perfectly balanced, fresh, excellent structure, very long finish. There is no tertiary aroma or flavor yet, but it is so good now, why wait?. 99+
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My 2nd last one of these. Amazing on the nose right out of the bottle, this oozes right bank class from start to finish. I perhaps even prefer this to the supposed 100pt 2009. This feels more robust, perhaps firmer tannins but with such a sweet core of black fruit, creamy creme-de-cassis and some licorice and cedar, and some nice acidity too. Feels like an over-achiever for the vintage. Will improve further, but feels open for business.
Classic Ducru here. Red fruit aromas on opening that quickly give way to cassis and dark cherry. The wine is very precise and rounded with very fine tannins and complementary acidity. Really lovely now but will definitely improve over a few decades.
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Decanted 8rs . My first Ducru as the relatively sane pricing of $150 allowed me to get a three pack and here is the first. My overall impression is of a powerful yet refined St Julien. Furthermore, it still readily maintains what I consider the proper spectrum of fruit: cassis (or black cherry) that is clear cut, but not over the top and well balanced within the overall framework - its utter seamless. Damp soil and other earth tones pick up on the backend, some youthful tannins (but not obtrusive) indicate longevity, and I was very, very impressed. A good 30 years ahead on this puppy.
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Decanted, my third of these and this continues to improve. Very balanced, led pencil, some creme de casis, a hint of sweetness, power and elegance abound. So classy but hedonistic. I had the '09 recently and frankly this vintage shows better.
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Extremely young and a shameful slaughtering of what could be great in 10 to 15 years. There are no thrills in drinking this now, other than the fact that there is an undeniable potential for the aged version of this wine. Very tightly wound, with graphite and faint earth, alongside a classic Bordeaux demeanor. HOLD_
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Rather hedonistic with rich, dense dark fruit. Slightly green and herbaceous finish. Didn't know that Ducru moved to the dark side. Still impressive nonetheless.
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For me I found this vintage needs some serious aging for further development to integrate the elements. Even with a long decant it was not a wine that was approachable at this time and brought little sensory enjoyment. The wine still has some hard edges to shed but with time perhaps a minimum of 5 years that will change but does require patience. Having really enjoyed other Classed Growths from the 2014 vintage I was optimistic this super second would deliver similar enjoyment. If you were considering opening this for Christmas my advice would be choose an alternative ......though you are the boss 😀😀😀😀
I can see why Suckling rated this 99pts. This is hedonistic but also classy. A sweet, delicious profile. You can tell this is from a very fine producer. Drinking great right now really, but will improve even more with a bit more age. 97+pts.
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This is OK to drink now as a semi-experiment (and may be helped by some rich food) but really should be left to rest in the cellar for a while. Great potential here I think, cant be too far below the FG in this vintage - dark colour and black leaning fruit on the nose - black cherry and cedar on palate - very classy, needs 10+ years for peak I think. 94+
More impressive than genuinely enjoyable at this point. There's plenty of rich black fruit, cedar, and an earthy and walnutty savouriness, but it's tightly wound (even with a 3 hour decant), tannic, and very primary. The balance is fantastic and I imagine this will be really wonderful in time, but right now it's more about the promise.
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95. Coravin, 1 glass sample, 2 hour decant. Nose of oak, smoke, leather, stone. Palate, succulent and layered , red currant , fresh sweet core of fruit framed with huge tannins. Great balance. Good now, great later.
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It has been over a year since I last opened a bottle of this gorgeous wine. It is still open for business. The regal, first growth quality of this wine is immediately evident. Opaque dark purple with a crimson rim, thick long legs coat the glass. Aroma of dark chocolate covered cherries explode from the bottle upon opening. Once poured into a glass, this is followed by cocoa, coffee, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, cassis, dark stone fruit, oyster shell, iodine, crushed dried flowers, crushed stone, leather, with a subtle hint of truffles, wet woods, barnyard and horse blanket in the background. This is a big, masculine wine with complex flavors that mirror the aromatics. Ducru Beaucaillou 2014 is perfectly balanced. The mouthfeel is like liquid silk. This wine is concentrated without being overly extracted. It has excellent acidity and freshness. The wine can be consumed now with great pleasure, but will gain more complexity with secondary aroma and flavor as it continues to age for many decades. 50++ second after taste. I did not decant this bottle. I opened the bottle approximately 10 hours prior to pouring a glass and let it sit for another 30-45 minutes in the glass before tasting. It improves as it sits in the glass. If one could drink very expensive top quality French perfume, I imagine it would taste like Ducru Beaucaillou, 2014. This wine is a bargain, buy it if you can find it, you won't be disappointed.
The 2014 Ducru-Beaucaillou is an unqualified success. Decanted and followed for 4 hours, the initial cherry, redcurrant, pomegranate nose quickly transitions into an altogether darker cassis and mineral profile which is classically St Julien with Ducru-Beaucaillou’s trademark elegance. Amazing purity both on the nose and palate. Very lively on the palate with wonderful acidity. 100% new oak is always used at DB but the wines are never overly-oaky.
Color: Garnet; deep purple Nose: Black fruit - blackberry, cassias; Red Fruit - Currant; hints of vanilla and floral undertones Fruit: Blackberry and cassias confirmed on palate; hints of cedar, vanilla, and spice Alcohol: Moderate (+) Acidity: Moderate (-) Tannin: Plush, fine tannins; rounding on the mid-palate and finish Body: Full
90% Cab; 10% Merlot
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This is a stunning Ducru right out of the gate and a must-have wine for any Bordeaux fan given its pricing relative to other top vintages - it's right up there with the '95 in delivering a first-growth quality experience with absolute masses of material and structure that should give it a functionally immortal life span. It opens up with piercing blueberry fruit laced with pencil fillings, gravel, and metal shavings so intense it's a liquid rock quarry. "Beaucaillou" means "beautiful stones" but these rocks aren't gunning for any beauty pageants, this is a rugged manly man of a wine with an intensity and raw muscle that almost suggests Taurasi though it still has those luxe claret manners at its core. I'm not sure whether this wine or the ravishing Pichon-Lalande is my pick at the moment for Wine of the Vintage, but that sums up the style difference - the PLL is the sleek feminine beauty and this is the high-torque powerhouse. It seems likely to close down hard soon, although given its structure it's kind of remarkable it hasn't closed down *yet*, as some other stars of the vintage (Montrose) have started to do. It finishes with an almost Latour-like walnuttiness, and like many St.-Juliens there's something very Pauillac about this with a twist of something else, in this case maybe just even more oomph.
Dark purple, opaque, gorgeous concentrated and complex multi-layered aromatics; creme de cassis, dark chocolate covered cherries, blackberries, dark stone fruit, dried flowers, anise, leather, subtle but obvious presence of wet woods, truffles, cigar box cedar/tobacco, wet stone, all of which will become more prominent with age. Lovely, elegant, silky mouth feel and freshness. Excellent acidity and structure, perfectly balanced. This wine has a 50++ second after taste. Absolutely delicious now, especially with 2 or 3 hours decant, but will continue to fill out and improve over the next 20+ years. This wine has a huge drinking window (if it does not shut down), and will have a fascinating evolution. This is a gorgeous under-rated wine. I am amazed by the 'relatively' low scores here. This wine is a masterpiece. Suckling rated this wine 99; he is correct.
Ch.Ducru-Beaucaillou er en meget flott majestisk eiendom i St.-Julien som er en av de eldste vinproduserende eiendommene i Medoc med historie tilbake til 1200-tallet. Ch.Ducru-Beaucaillou har i mange år har laget noen av de flotteste vinene innenfor appellasjonen.
Vinen har en svært høy andel med Cabernet Sauvignon med hele 90% og bare 10% Merlot-druer. Og andel nye fat? 100%. Selvfølgelig.
Vinen har et lite lillapreg med lysere kant på farge. På nese er vinen intens og kommer litt vilt opp av glasset med et sterkt krydderpreg som viser maskulinitet og nesten dytter de mørkere bærene og det lille vaniljepreget til side.
Vinen er særdeles konsentrert på paletten og ikke overrraskende er den maskulin og tøff. Men bak det tøffe tunge ytre, lurer det også en noe mer raffinert og balansert herremann med dype saftige mørke kirsebær, litt undermodne plommer, lær, lakris og med en helt fantastisk brent kryddertone som virkelig er noe for seg selv. Tannin og syrenivået er tydelig, men såpass må det være på en slik power-vin som fint greier 30 år i kjelleren. Meget lang utgang med litt vel brente fat. Flott vin! www.botti.no
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Exquisite and delicious - decanted for an hour, this is silky smooth, blue sweet fruit with a racy verve. Nothing earthy, savory or even much minerality - this is restrained decadence with a pinpoint seamlesness. Is even more approachabe now than I had hoped, though will surely improve with age. Glad I have a few more.
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2017 New York Wine Experience Trip; 10/16/2017-10/25/2017 (New York City, NY): A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, this opaque crimson wine delivers black and blue fruits, accented with notes of exotic spices, savory herbs, lead pencil, vanilla and dark chocolatee. Full-bodied, fresh and with nicely integrated alcohol, it wraps its flavors with plentiful fine-grained tannins. This wine's élevage was entirely in new French oak, and there is still some integration that will need to occur with respect to the wood. Nevertheless, its purity of fruit, dense mid-palate and long finish demonstrate that the components are all in place. Give this some cellar time. Drink 2025-2050.
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During a merchant tasting. Decent, a bit thinner than the 2012 in a tasting today where the whole line up was in the "good but not great" category. For the moment there is noticeable oak, vanilla, spices, dark fruit. Racy acidity on the palate. I bit thin for a Grand Cru but correct. Forget about the price of this over-valued Chateau.
Primarily fruity, almost with still ferry sweet notes, but also very floral. Smooth palate, oily background, fleshy tannins in a high quantity, which makes intense pressure, but is integrated by the viscosity and the intensive minerality. Remarkably powerful alcohol, subtle acidity.potential 94-96
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Decanted for three hours. Polished tannin and the finest beam of acidity, the structure and balance are superb, yet this is rich and gorgeous . The finish is long, and even though the nose is a little muted, it shows blackberry, lavender, coffee grounds, anise and drying birch. Truly classic and ageless. Drink 2024 -.
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Deep, dark ruby with purple in its hue, this wine is brimming with smoke, espresso, blackberry, black cherry, licorice, earth, a whole spice box of aromatics and that’s just the foreplay. The lush velour textured tannins, layers of dark berry liqueur and the lasting sensation of fresh, perfectly ripened fruit elevates this wine to the next level. This is the best wine of the appellation and once again, one of the top wines in the vintage. Produced from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, the wine reached 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.81 and is aging in 100% new French oak barrels. 95-96 Pts
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5/3/2024 - boillatm Likes this wine: 95 Points
Opened and slow-oxed for five hours.
Beautiful blackish garnet color with a very enticing nose. On the palate mostly blackcurrants. Long finish.
Superb wine worth looking for.
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4/5/2024 - pinkhouse wrote: 94 Points
Starting to strut its stuff. 3 hour decant and it showed very well alongside the 2009, also superb.
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3/17/2024 - Pmysliwi Likes this wine: 94 Points
Lovely. Rich, but not jammy.
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3/3/2024 - b swan wrote: 97 Points
JA, Here we see the potential of 2014 in the right hands, and this stands out from its neighbours in northern Médoc, one to note down and look out for. Silky tannins, a ton of cocoa bean, bitter chocolate and espresso, blueberry and cassis fruits, along with turmeric, liqourice and clove spice. Perfectly-pitched acidity that softens into capuccinno creaminess though the mid palate followed by a juicy signoff. Slow build, just delicious. 100% new oak. Eric Boissenot consultant, Virginie Sallette technical director.
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2/23/2024 - Collector1855 wrote: 95 Points
Bordeaux 2014, 10-years on tasted blind: Complex nose of forest floor, sweet spices, oak, dark fruit, complex. Succulent palate, elegant with very good aromatic complexity. Textbook Medoc. My personal WOTN and also Group Rank 1/15
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2/22/2024 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points
Bordeaux 2014 - 10 Years On - 15 Reds: Fifteen red wines (14 left bank/1 right bank). All tasted blind. The 2014 vintage turned out to be good, but not exceptional. This vintage is characterized by a cool, classic style with an impressive expression of fresh fruit. The wines were rich in blue fruit, supported by a fine mineral backbone, without succumbing to overripeness or overbearing fruitiness. Contrary to expectations, the wines were not overly austere and showed good (excellent at the top) tannin structure, contributing to a classic Bordeaux experience. However, it's important to note that while these wines have commendable qualities, they lack the complexity and, to a lesser extent, the finesse and elegance characteristic of the most celebrated vintages. Many of the wines seemed a bit simplistic. I think they are likely to peak in the early rather than mature into 30, 40, 50-year wines as I don’t think there is enough fruit. My top three were a layered, blue-fruited Ducru Beaucaillou, a strawberry-laden, purity-driven Montrose (both rated 94pts), and an elegant Pichon Lalande (93pts), foreshadowing the great things this estate has produced in vintages since. The group winner was also the Ducru.
TN: Medium+ expressive nose with mostly dark berries and some blue fruit and a bit of minerality. The palate was quite strong with lots of dark berries, fresh dark berries, intense fresh and slightly candied blue fruit, minerality, some earthy notes and just a hint of luxurious oak. Even though the wine had been decanted for two hours, it was getting better by the minute. Highly precise rainbow of fresh fruit, superb minerality at the core with plenty of elegance and finesse in the structure and a long-lingering finish. The most complete wine of the tasting.
Decanting: Decanted for 2 hours, would have needed used 3 to 4.
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8/30/2023 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Surprisingly precocious, the wine already expresses charm, round, soft tannins, layers of black currants, cocoa, espresso, and blackberries. Round, soft, and forward, this is good to go now and is only going to get better with a few more years of cellaring. Drink from 2023-2040.
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5/31/2023 - Purple Tooth wrote: 93 Points
Either this clenched up more than my last bottle or it was a bit too cold. A serious wine for sure, but I’m having to look between the lines to see Bordeaux. Deep and complex , with hints of graphite, and some night flowers in the distance. Definitely got better as we worked our way to the bottom. I say HOLD and if you must break one out, let it come to room temperature and drink it patently for its best.
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5/30/2023 - Cake & Fine Wine wrote: 96 Points
Woof! Woof woof in a few years - and it might reach JS’s 99. Great balance. Dark berries, chocolate, leather etc but also a a refreshing earthiness which keeps the pallet elegant and light. Absolutely fantastic and a genuine experience.
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3/18/2023 - SonnyChiba wrote: 94 Points
Excellent wine for the vintage. Cant wait to try some more again in a few years. Long life ahead.
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1/15/2023 - redhead6971 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Anton’s Wine Tasting Notes
Winery: Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Varietal: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot
Area/Appellation:France/Bordeaux/Saint-Julien Vintage: 2014
Price: $130/Gary’s Wine and Spirits New Jersey circa 2017
Color: dark ruby with purple Legs: very slow
Nose: nice blackberries, black cherries, cassis, currant, loam, earthy, wet stone, cedar,
Palate: rich luscious a real showcase of dark black fruits (blackberries , cassis, black cherries, currant) with overtones of cedar, oak, licorice coffee, vanilla. There is a whole heck of a lot going on here, very multi dimensional.
Finish: rich with cedar and cassis, currant, black licorice, coffee.
The finish is nice, but it’s not real lengthy but it’s still very nice. It reflects the vintage.
Comments: Great example of Saint Julien and a very interesting wildcard year. Despite the threat of mildew and rot with a very warm, very humid summer, created by spring rains, an Indian summer in September really paid off and created very ripe conditions.
Pairing Suggestions: goat cheese, chateaubriand, homemade pot roast, beef Wellington, etc.
Score in terms of Vintage: 93
Score for the Wine: 94
Value for the Money: Highly Recommended 😍
Date Tasted: 01/14/2023
Tasted by: ACK
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11/22/2022 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 95 Points
Incredible aroma, deep, multi layered, complex and aristocratic. Various black and red fruits, spice, flowers, cedar, tobacco.
Voluptuous, smooth, rich, deep, ripe, cool and succulent on the palate.
A huge upside, although you can drink it now.
95 now and 97 in the future.
Much more serious wine than Pontet Canet 2015 tasted side by side.
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8/20/2022 - grapenomad wrote: 94 Points
Deep ruby in the glass. Super layered with an array of aromas that just keep coming from all over the place. Dense on the palate, but has this fine lift of freshness and elegance to it. Everything in balance. Open now, but you can age this nicely as well. Awesome wine, reminds me of a great rave that lasts long into the night.
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6/11/2022 - Matjet Likes this wine: 99 Points
Ducru Beaucaillou, 2014:
My third bottle of this fantastic wine. It has not closed down, still open for business. Absolutely delicious. It has a luxurious texture like liquid cashmere. Gorgeous perfume bouquet which is present as soon as the bottle is opened. Complex, deep rich flavors of cherry, plum, anise, cedar, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, cassis, blackberry. Perfectly balanced, fresh, excellent structure, very long finish. There is no tertiary aroma or flavor yet, but it is so good now, why wait?. 99+
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5/15/2022 - John McCabe wrote: 96 Points
My 2nd last one of these. Amazing on the nose right out of the bottle, this oozes right bank class from start to finish. I perhaps even prefer this to the supposed 100pt 2009. This feels more robust, perhaps firmer tannins but with such a sweet core of black fruit, creamy creme-de-cassis and some licorice and cedar, and some nice acidity too. Feels like an over-achiever for the vintage. Will improve further, but feels open for business.
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4/17/2022 - Shugs_Claret Likes this wine: 95 Points
Classic Ducru here. Red fruit aromas on opening that quickly give way to cassis and dark cherry. The wine is very precise and rounded with very fine tannins and complementary acidity. Really lovely now but will definitely improve over a few decades.
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12/22/2021 - Dale M wrote: 94 Points
Decanted 8rs . My first Ducru as the relatively sane pricing of $150 allowed me to get a three pack and here is the first. My overall impression is of a powerful yet refined St Julien. Furthermore, it still readily maintains what I consider the proper spectrum of fruit: cassis (or black cherry) that is clear cut, but not over the top and well balanced within the overall framework - its utter seamless. Damp soil and other earth tones pick up on the backend, some youthful tannins (but not obtrusive) indicate longevity, and I was very, very impressed. A good 30 years ahead on this puppy.
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11/18/2021 - John McCabe wrote: 97 Points
Decanted, my third of these and this continues to improve. Very balanced, led pencil, some creme de casis, a hint of sweetness, power and elegance abound. So classy but hedonistic. I had the '09 recently and frankly this vintage shows better.
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10/6/2021 - Purple Tooth wrote: 94 Points
Extremely young and a shameful slaughtering of what could be great in 10 to 15 years. There are no thrills in drinking this now, other than the fact that there is an undeniable potential for the aged version of this wine. Very tightly wound, with graphite and faint earth, alongside a classic Bordeaux demeanor. HOLD_
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8/15/2021 - melvinyeowq wrote:
Rather hedonistic with rich, dense dark fruit. Slightly green and herbaceous finish. Didn't know that Ducru moved to the dark side. Still impressive nonetheless.
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12/23/2020 - stkilda wrote:
For me I found this vintage needs some serious aging for further development to integrate the elements. Even with a long decant it was not a wine that was approachable at this time and brought little sensory enjoyment. The wine still has some hard edges to shed but with time perhaps a minimum of 5 years that will change but does require patience.
Having really enjoyed other Classed Growths from the 2014 vintage I was optimistic this super second would deliver similar enjoyment. If you were considering opening this for Christmas my advice would be choose an alternative ......though you are the boss 😀😀😀😀
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9/14/2020 - John McCabe wrote: 97 Points
I can see why Suckling rated this 99pts. This is hedonistic but also classy. A sweet, delicious profile. You can tell this is from a very fine producer. Drinking great right now really, but will improve even more with a bit more age. 97+pts.
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1/13/2020 - il_diavolo wrote: 94 Points
This is OK to drink now as a semi-experiment (and may be helped by some rich food) but really should be left to rest in the cellar for a while. Great potential here I think, cant be too far below the FG in this vintage - dark colour and black leaning fruit on the nose - black cherry and cedar on palate - very classy, needs 10+ years for peak I think. 94+
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11/30/2019 - wineappreciation wrote: 93 Points
Blackberry, cedar, cinnamon, leather; smooth, full, balanced, well structured, big, bold, powerful, tight, long gradual finish; excellent with tremendous future potential
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11/20/2019 - salil wrote: 92 Points
More impressive than genuinely enjoyable at this point. There's plenty of rich black fruit, cedar, and an earthy and walnutty savouriness, but it's tightly wound (even with a 3 hour decant), tannic, and very primary. The balance is fantastic and I imagine this will be really wonderful in time, but right now it's more about the promise.
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11/9/2019 - rmcnees Likes this wine: 92 Points
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/11/ducru-beaucaillou-vertical-showcases.html
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11/5/2019 - rylanreynolds wrote: 93 Points
93+ Decanted for 2 hours , medium body light red fruits
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10/30/2019 - Arcturus wrote: 95 Points
95. Coravin, 1 glass sample, 2 hour decant. Nose of oak, smoke, leather, stone. Palate, succulent and layered , red currant , fresh sweet core of fruit framed with huge tannins. Great balance. Good now, great later.
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10/15/2019 - Matjet Likes this wine: 99 Points
It has been over a year since I last opened a bottle of this gorgeous wine.
It is still open for business. The regal, first growth quality of this wine is immediately evident. Opaque dark purple with a crimson rim, thick long legs coat the glass. Aroma of dark chocolate covered cherries explode from the bottle upon opening. Once poured into a glass, this is followed by cocoa, coffee, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, cassis, dark stone fruit, oyster shell, iodine, crushed dried flowers, crushed stone, leather, with a subtle hint of truffles, wet woods, barnyard and horse blanket in the background. This is a big, masculine wine with complex flavors that mirror the aromatics. Ducru Beaucaillou 2014 is perfectly balanced. The mouthfeel is like liquid silk. This wine is concentrated without being overly extracted. It has excellent acidity and freshness. The wine can be consumed now with great pleasure, but will gain more complexity with secondary aroma and flavor as it continues to age for many decades. 50++ second after taste.
I did not decant this bottle. I opened the bottle approximately 10 hours prior to pouring a glass and let it sit for another 30-45 minutes in the glass before tasting. It improves as it sits in the glass.
If one could drink very expensive top quality French perfume, I imagine it would taste like Ducru Beaucaillou, 2014.
This wine is a bargain, buy it if you can find it, you won't be disappointed.
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5/6/2019 - mchern02 wrote: 95 Points
One hour decant
Great wine and great value thus far!
Nose: Pomegranate, cassis, anise and rose petals
Palate: great weight and balance; not too big or powerful, but nice balance of acid and structure. Highly enjoyable
Finish: long and straight; very good length and resolve. For such a young wine shocked at he resolution.
Buy more now!
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4/28/2019 - englishman's claret wrote: 94 Points
The 2014 Ducru-Beaucaillou is an unqualified success. Decanted and followed for 4 hours, the initial cherry, redcurrant, pomegranate nose quickly transitions into an altogether darker cassis and mineral profile which is classically St Julien with Ducru-Beaucaillou’s trademark elegance. Amazing purity both on the nose and palate. Very lively on the palate with wonderful acidity. 100% new oak is always used at DB but the wines are never overly-oaky.
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1/13/2019 - AudunG wrote: 94 Points
Floral aromas with blackcurrant, leather and some oak. Dry, tight and concentrated, and extremely elegant. Bravo!
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12/25/2018 - Rhodestorome Likes this wine: 94 Points
Color: Garnet; deep purple
Nose: Black fruit - blackberry, cassias; Red Fruit - Currant; hints of vanilla and floral undertones
Fruit: Blackberry and cassias confirmed on palate; hints of cedar, vanilla, and spice
Alcohol: Moderate (+)
Acidity: Moderate (-)
Tannin: Plush, fine tannins; rounding on the mid-palate and finish
Body: Full
90% Cab; 10% Merlot
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10/27/2018 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine: 98 Points
This is a stunning Ducru right out of the gate and a must-have wine for any Bordeaux fan given its pricing relative to other top vintages - it's right up there with the '95 in delivering a first-growth quality experience with absolute masses of material and structure that should give it a functionally immortal life span. It opens up with piercing blueberry fruit laced with pencil fillings, gravel, and metal shavings so intense it's a liquid rock quarry. "Beaucaillou" means "beautiful stones" but these rocks aren't gunning for any beauty pageants, this is a rugged manly man of a wine with an intensity and raw muscle that almost suggests Taurasi though it still has those luxe claret manners at its core. I'm not sure whether this wine or the ravishing Pichon-Lalande is my pick at the moment for Wine of the Vintage, but that sums up the style difference - the PLL is the sleek feminine beauty and this is the high-torque powerhouse. It seems likely to close down hard soon, although given its structure it's kind of remarkable it hasn't closed down *yet*, as some other stars of the vintage (Montrose) have started to do. It finishes with an almost Latour-like walnuttiness, and like many St.-Juliens there's something very Pauillac about this with a twist of something else, in this case maybe just even more oomph.
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8/17/2018 - Matjet Likes this wine: 99 Points
Dark purple, opaque, gorgeous concentrated and complex multi-layered aromatics; creme de cassis, dark chocolate covered cherries, blackberries, dark stone fruit, dried flowers, anise, leather, subtle but obvious presence of wet woods, truffles, cigar box cedar/tobacco, wet stone, all of which will become more prominent with age. Lovely, elegant, silky mouth feel and freshness. Excellent acidity and structure, perfectly balanced. This wine has a 50++ second after taste. Absolutely delicious now, especially with 2 or 3 hours decant, but will continue to fill out and improve over the next 20+ years. This wine has a huge drinking window (if it does not shut down), and will have a fascinating evolution. This is a gorgeous under-rated wine. I am amazed by the 'relatively' low scores here. This wine is a masterpiece.
Suckling rated this wine 99; he is correct.
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11/29/2017 - Andre Brattland Likes this wine: 95 Points
Ch.Ducru-Beaucaillou er en meget flott majestisk eiendom i St.-Julien som er en av de eldste vinproduserende eiendommene i Medoc med historie tilbake til 1200-tallet. Ch.Ducru-Beaucaillou har i mange år har laget noen av de flotteste vinene innenfor appellasjonen.
Vinen har en svært høy andel med Cabernet Sauvignon med hele 90% og bare 10% Merlot-druer. Og andel nye fat? 100%. Selvfølgelig.
Vinen har et lite lillapreg med lysere kant på farge. På nese er vinen intens og kommer litt vilt opp av glasset med et sterkt krydderpreg som viser maskulinitet og nesten dytter de mørkere bærene og det lille vaniljepreget til side.
Vinen er særdeles konsentrert på paletten og ikke overrraskende er den maskulin og tøff. Men bak det tøffe tunge ytre, lurer det også en noe mer raffinert og balansert herremann med dype saftige mørke kirsebær, litt undermodne plommer, lær, lakris og med en helt fantastisk brent kryddertone som virkelig er noe for seg selv. Tannin og syrenivået er tydelig, men såpass må det være på en slik power-vin som fint greier 30 år i kjelleren. Meget lang utgang med litt vel brente fat. Flott vin! www.botti.no
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11/16/2017 - John McCabe wrote: 96 Points
Exquisite and delicious - decanted for an hour, this is silky smooth, blue sweet fruit with a racy verve. Nothing earthy, savory or even much minerality - this is restrained decadence with a pinpoint seamlesness. Is even more approachabe now than I had hoped, though will surely improve with age. Glad I have a few more.
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10/22/2017 - PatrickH1 wrote: 90 Points
Needs decanting Try again in 2022 or so
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10/19/2017 - La Cave d'Argent Likes this wine: 94 Points
2017 New York Wine Experience Trip; 10/16/2017-10/25/2017 (New York City, NY): A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, this opaque crimson wine delivers black and blue fruits, accented with notes of exotic spices, savory herbs, lead pencil, vanilla and dark chocolatee. Full-bodied, fresh and with nicely integrated alcohol, it wraps its flavors with plentiful fine-grained tannins. This wine's élevage was entirely in new French oak, and there is still some integration that will need to occur with respect to the wood. Nevertheless, its purity of fruit, dense mid-palate and long finish demonstrate that the components are all in place. Give this some cellar time. Drink 2025-2050.
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10/14/2017 - Collector1855 wrote: 93 Points
During a merchant tasting. Decent, a bit thinner than the 2012 in a tasting today where the whole line up was in the "good but not great" category. For the moment there is noticeable oak, vanilla, spices, dark fruit. Racy acidity on the palate. I bit thin for a Grand Cru but correct. Forget about the price of this over-valued Chateau.
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6/16/2017 - Michael777 wrote: 94 Points
Primarily fruity, almost with still ferry sweet notes, but also very floral. Smooth palate, oily background, fleshy tannins in a high quantity, which makes intense pressure, but is integrated by the viscosity and the intensive minerality. Remarkably powerful alcohol, subtle acidity.potential 94-96
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5/18/2017 - Matt Scott Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted for three hours. Polished tannin and the finest beam of acidity, the structure and balance are superb, yet this is rich and gorgeous . The finish is long, and even though the nose is a little muted, it shows blackberry, lavender, coffee grounds, anise and drying birch. Truly classic and ageless. Drink 2024 -.
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4/16/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Deep, dark ruby with purple in its hue, this wine is brimming with smoke, espresso, blackberry, black cherry, licorice, earth, a whole spice box of aromatics and that’s just the foreplay. The lush velour textured tannins, layers of dark berry liqueur and the lasting sensation of fresh, perfectly ripened fruit elevates this wine to the next level. This is the best wine of the appellation and once again, one of the top wines in the vintage. Produced from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, the wine reached 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.81 and is aging in 100% new French oak barrels. 95-96 Pts
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