September 15, 2023 - The nose pops with notes of dried flowers, tobacco leaf, and an array of sweet dark, and white cherries with a touch of spearmint on the back end. The palate is silky, vibrant, and right in the middle of firm, and flamboyant, with a boatload of sweet, cherries, currants, tobacco, and a dollop of citrus. The finish lingers with all that fruit, which is a good thing, as this is a wine you cannot get enough of. Drink from 2023-2039.
October 26, 2020 - Despite coming from a chateau-bottled magnum, this doesn't show quite as well as past 750s. The fundamental character of the wine is the same and there's no doubt that, particularly with air, a charming amalgam of mature claret flavors develops. Dark fruit, fresh loam, old cedar and leather with a slightly minty note - just not quite as vivid and detailed as prior examples. 92-93
July 5, 2020 - A somewhat underwhelming bottle. Already in decline, it did not offer any individually distinguishing elements.
July 15, 2019 - From a negociant bottling, this misses just a bit of the complexity and impact of a recent chateau-bottled example though it's not far off, either. Again with a tremendously muscular, dark fruit profile - blackcurrant, blackberry compote, woodsy ceps, loam, and oak. The 59 isn't bothered a bit by 3 hours in the decanter and finished just as strong as it started - if anything, it needed 20-30 minutes to sort itself out.
June 17, 2019 - Excellent - energetic, round balanced. A real treat.
May 5, 2019 - Ducru Beaucaillou - 90 year Retrospective (Boston Harbor Hotel): The muscular date tonight for the sensual and lithe 55. The 1959 was equally off the charts in its expression of terroir and the vintage. Dried black fruits, spice, smoke and candied cherry notes. Supported by beautiful spice and cigar box.
May 5, 2019 - 90 years of Ducru Beaucaillou: What a foil to the elegant 55 - not that the 59 is really that much of a bruiser per se, but its impact and force can't be denied. Assertive, muscular blackcurrant, ceps, loam, and cedar on the nose. Rich palate. Very much an example of the vintage. 750 with an upper shoulder fill, decanted 20 minutes.
October 14, 2017 - Red berries, some sweetness, fairly elegant with mid-weight. Great wine
January 7, 2016 - From the start we knew that 1) this was stored impeccably, and 2) holy hell this was going to be a special bottle. The first, and possibly best, leading indicator for a 50+ year old bottle when opened is the nose. Having consumed wines up to 65 years old let me tell you that this was the most impressive bottle I have ever opened in that category.
Somehow, someway, the bouquet was flamboyant, oaky, and dare I say fruity?! The wine was not thin in the least bit, however there was a slightly heavy lead finish.
It was superbly balanced and somewhat paradoxical in the sense that the aromatics suggested a far younger wine, yet the color, sediment and finish all indicated that it was a very old and mature bottle. The body was ever present, and prior to the lead finish, there were hints of currant, leather along with the musky earth tones that left bank bordeaux are so aligned with.
My immediate reaction was where can I get another. Alas, wine searcher tells me that none are available at the present in North America. If I can find one with a similar fill (high shoulder), I will gladly spend what I must to get this gem that could be in its stride for another 5 years or so.
We opened it alongside the 1989 Durcu Beaucaillou at Marea in New York.
November 6, 2015 - Huge and beautiful nose of drying red berries, red cedar, damp soil, leather, and blueberries. Completely alive and delivering a powerful palate balanced with dark red cherry, ripe strawberry, black teas, savoury meats, and dark rich earth. Juicy with plenty of fruit but yielding to intense earth-driven tertiary tones, mostly fall leaves and dark tea leaves. Tingling minerality throughout. Sensational.