82/85/95/06/17/18. This mini vertical beautifully showcased that Ducru Beaucaillou is certainly one of the better left bank estates to cope with climate change: it still produces mineral/earth-driven, not too ripe wines with the signature St. Julien fresh blue fruit character. While there have been great wines before (the 1985 & 1982 were on fire and the best wines of the evening), the quality is steadily improving: even though I’m not the biggest fan of the 2017/2018 vintages in Bordeaux, these were some of the very best Bdxs from this vintage I’ve had to date. Ducru remains my favorite St. Julien estate thanks to more depth and more finesse than Leoville Barton (2nd), higher approachability and consistency than Las Cases (3rd) and less ripeness and more freshness than Poyferre (4th).

TN: Very intense ripe dark fruit bursting out of the glass. Lots of spices, some oak notes. You can smell the sheer mass here. Some slight alcohol heat two (but I‘m very sensitive to that). But as the wines opens up more (after 1 hour in the glass), that disappears and the nose gets much more interesting and layered. On the palate there is this wall of very fine, velvety tannins and wrapped around a lot of ripe blackberries, dark cherries, black currant and blueberries. Spices, herbal notes, a nice layer minerality. Quite dense but not heavy, no excess weight and with a nice creamy texture. The finish is long and expanding full of fruit, floral aromas and some coffee notes. Quite complete and harmonious with some time. We tasted this side by side with the lovely, floral, elegant 2017 which doesn‘t have massive depth but drinks great today (same 95 pts). This 2018 is quite the antithesis: a lot of ripe dark and blue fruit are dominating, the wine is massive but still without any excess ripeness or excess weight. This will not be overly pleasing right after opening but with lots of air, this showed very good. No excesses which would harm the experience, Ducru seems to have grown and crafted one of the great 2018s. 95 pts today but with a lot of upside once this flashes out and the tertiary complexity kicks in.

Decanting: PnP from a 100ml glass/screwcap tube sealed with argon directly from the Chateau. Improved a lot in the glass with lots of air. Decanting young Bdxs is tricky as they can close down with air, but this would have benefitted from 3+ hours in the decanter.

82/85/95/06/17/18. This mini vertical beautifully showcased that Ducru Beaucaillou is certainly one of the better left bank estates to cope with climate change: it still produces mineral/earth-driven, not too ripe wines with the signature St. Julien fresh blue fruit character. While there have been great wines before (the 1985 & 1982 were on fire and the best wines of the evening), the quality is steadily improving: even though I’m not the biggest fan of the 2017/2018 vintages in Bordeaux, these were some of the very best Bdxs from this vintage I’ve had to date. Ducru remains my favorite St. Julien estate thanks to more depth and more finesse than Leoville Barton (2nd), higher approachability and consistency than Las Cases (3rd) and less ripeness and more freshness than Poyferre (4th).

TN: Intense, creamy nose full of floral and blue and dark fruit notes. Some hints of minerality. Round and very inviting. On the palate this drinks very good, so round and inviting without any hard edges. Very light and nicely creamy with a high but perfectly integrated acidity. It shows the same blue and dark fruit notes with lots of floral notes, some coffee scents. It is not super deep but shows a good precision. Towards the medium length finish there is minerality which adds another layer of complexity. Overall this is very harmonious and round. Although 2017 is not the strongest vintage, this wine shows spectacularly today. It has not the depth to play with the best vintages but is drinking so well. Other than in the other vintages, this is so floral, feminine and perfumed. 2017 is a vintage to drink now and buy at restaurants. 94 to 95 points! The best 2017 I‘ve had to date and towards the end with two hours in the glass definitely drinking on a 95 pts level and with that on the same level as the 2018 in the next glass, which however has much more upside than the 17 has.

Decanting: PnP from a 100ml glass/screwcap tube sealed with argon directly from the Chateau. Improved a lot in the glass with lots of air. Decanting young Bdxs is tricky as they can close down with air, but this would have benefitted from 2 or 3 hours in the decanter.

82/85/95/06/17/18. This mini vertical beautifully showcased that Ducru Beaucaillou is certainly one of the better left bank estates to cope with climate change: it still produces mineral/earth-driven, not too ripe wines with the signature St. Julien fresh blue fruit character. While there have been great wines before (the 1985 & 1982 were on fire and the best wines of the evening), the quality is steadily improving: even though I’m not the biggest fan of the 2017/2018 vintages in Bordeaux, these were some of the very best Bdxs from this vintage I’ve had to date. Ducru remains my favorite St. Julien estate thanks to more depth and more finesse than Leoville Barton (2nd), higher approachability and consistency than Las Cases (3rd) and less ripeness and more freshness than Poyferre (4th).

TN: Medium+ expressive nose full of spices, Christmas spices, but including some notes I don‘t really like (changed my glass three time as I thought it might be from the dishwasher). With time that gets more integrated and better with fruit coming out to balance all the spices. On the palate this better. The palate is dominated by graphite minerality and the same spices. The fruit is more in the background and only with time comes out a bit more but it could be a bit more pronounced to create a better balance. It misses a touch of sweetness. No as complex and precise as the 2017/2018 we had before and not much tertiary aromas yet to add depth. The structure is impeccable with fine molten tannins, a good and well-integrated acidity, a nice light feel and a good weight, slightly creamy. Medium- length only. All in all, I’m not a big fan of this wine. I got the impression that the estate tried to compensate with lots of oak (hence the spices) for what is missing in fruit and ripeness (due to suboptimal conditions during the rainy harvest). It’s not a bad wine in any shape or form but not one to chase.

Decanting: PnP from a 100ml glass/screwcap tube sealed with argon directly from the Chateau. The wine improved a bit over the 60 minutes in the glass, hence I would advise decanting it for 1-2 hours.

82/85/95/06/17/18. This mini vertical beautifully showcased that Ducru Beaucaillou is certainly one of the better left bank estates to cope with climate change: it still produces mineral/earth-driven, not too ripe wines with the signature St. Julien fresh blue fruit character. While there have been great wines before (the 1985 & 1982 were on fire and the best wines of the evening), the quality is steadily improving: even though I’m not the biggest fan of the 2017/2018 vintages in Bordeaux, these were some of the very best Bdxs from this vintage I’ve had to date. Ducru remains my favorite St. Julien estate thanks to more depth and more finesse than Leoville Barton (2nd), higher approachability and consistency than Las Cases (3rd) and less ripeness and more freshness than Poyferre (4th).

TN: Medium intense nose, slightly cloudy, much less precise than the 2006/2017/2018 tasted before. Notes of minerality, spices and some dark berries. On the palate this drinks better, with nice tertiary tobacco and wet forest floor notes wrapped around a slightly shy dark fruit core. Additional notes of spices. The tannins are still quite perceptible but are quite fine and round but the younger wines are definitely more polished than this one. High acidity but not the same perfect balance and integration as in the younger and older vintages we had today. The finish has medium length. Overall, this was the weakest wine in the lineup. It doesn‘t have the concentration, complexity and especially precision of the great vintages. Another wine that confirms my impression that 1995 is (or at least was) an overrated vintage. 1996 and 1998 have clearly more to offer.

Decanting: PnP from a 100ml glass/screwcap tube sealed with argon directly from the Chateau. Over the hour I followed the wine in the glass it didn’t change much. No improvement or deterioration. No extensive decanting needed.

82/85/95/06/17/18. This mini vertical beautifully showcased that Ducru Beaucaillou is certainly one of the better left bank estates to cope with climate change: it still produces mineral/earth-driven, not too ripe wines with the signature St. Julien fresh blue fruit character. While there have been great wines before (the 1985 & 1982 were on fire and the best wines of the evening), the quality is steadily improving: even though I’m not the biggest fan of the 2017/2018 vintages in Bordeaux, these were some of the very best Bdxs from this vintage I’ve had to date. Ducru remains my favorite St. Julien estate thanks to more depth and more finesse than Leoville Barton (2nd), higher approachability and consistency than Las Cases (3rd) and less ripeness and more freshness than Poyferre (4th).

TN: Deep and dark nose with dark berries, quite strong minty notes and very beautiful mushroom and truffle notes, minerality. Some clove notes. Much more interesting, complex and precise than the 1995 in the next glass. On the palate this is amazing. The drinkabilty is so high, you could drink liters of it. Nice, highly elegant not too ripe dark berries, surrounded by a lot of tertiary aromas of tobacco, black truffles, mushrooms, wet forest floor, some spices and mint. High complexity and quite impressive precision. The tannins are molten but the wine still shows a lot of tension, the acidity is medium and perfectly integrated. The wine shows a wonderful creaminess and no excess of everything. The finish might be a touch short or at least not keeping up with the magnificant nose and palate experience. Overall great harmony and in a perfect drinking window today. Won‘t get any better. Yes, it has much less concentration than the 1982 but in exchange you get a perfectly mature, full teritary Bordeaux expression of the best kind. With time this loses a bit of its expression which shows that this is right on its peak today and won‘t get any better. 96 in the beginning, rather 94 towards the end.

Decanting: PnP from a 100ml glass/screwcap tube sealed with argon directly from the Chateau. As mentioned above, this lost a bit of steam towards the end. I would not decant this wine. PnP is the way to go.

82/85/95/06/17/18. This mini vertical beautifully showcased that Ducru Beaucaillou is certainly one of the better left bank estates to cope with climate change: it still produces mineral/earth-driven, not too ripe wines with the signature St. Julien fresh blue fruit character. While there have been great wines before (the 1985 & 1982 were on fire and the best wines of the evening), the quality is steadily improving: even though I’m not the biggest fan of the 2017/2018 vintages in Bordeaux, these were some of the very best Bdxs from this vintage I’ve had to date. Ducru remains my favorite St. Julien estate thanks to more depth and more finesse than Leoville Barton (2nd), higher approachability and consistency than Las Cases (3rd) and less ripeness and more freshness than Poyferre (4th).

TN: A slow starter. At first not as much expression as the 1985 in the next glass. It gains power, density by the minute with lots of dark berries, cassis, spices, luxurious tobacco notes. Still a bit shy and only after another 30 minutes in the glass this comes out of its shell and shows very complex and seductive. On the palate however, this is open and singing right from the start but was still improving throughout the tasting, so elegant and luxurious, no excess weight or ripeness, no excess of any kind. Wonderful sweet dark and blue fruit, tobacco, minerality, spices, some meaty notes and towards the finish the espresso kick. Just perfectly to drink today but with so much life left in the tank to bring out more teritary complexity. Lots of ultra fine tannins, wonderfully-integrated medium acidity, creamy texture, exceptional concentration, long and expanding finish. This has it all, a stunning wine! Compared to the 1985 in the next glass, this is less mature, and blind, I would have guessed it to be far younger. Clearly, this is years or even a decade+ away from its peak with not yet a hell lot of tertiary aromas. 96+ pts, it can certainly reach the 97+ pts category once all that tertiary complexity kicks in.

Decanting: PnP from a 100ml glass/screwcap tube sealed with argon directly from the Chateau. As described above this needed a lot of time in the glass to reach its peak. Like many other 1982s, this would have needed at least a solid 2-3 hours in the decanter.