CHÂTEAU DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU
2023 2ème Cru Classé Saint Julien
Glass-staining violet. A serious Ducru, delivered with precision and balance, with plenty of concentration and a slow, long build, layered, fine and sappy tannins. Proof again that this is a great Cabernet year in this corner of Bordeaux, less velvet concentration than the 2022 Ducru perhaps, but more finesse and packed full of nuance, and a saline mouthwatering finish. 41hl/h yield, 100% new oak, with long seasoning of up to five years, nine different coopers. Drinking range: 2030 - 2050 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2024)
75cl bottles (wood case of 6)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
85 Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 Merlot: 100% new oak – matured for 18 months: 13% alc: 3.7 pH: 89 IPT: Harvested from 8 September - 3 October It was fabulous to see Bruno Borie up and about after all manner of new joints have been fitted – he is Saint-Julien’s Bionic Man. It was even more exciting to walk through the portfolio at a leisurely pace with Tracey Dobbin MW, the font of all Ducru knowledge and one of the most open and interesting people I met up with on my tour. In common with other estates, bud break was spot-on, and frost barely troubled the scorers, with only mild issues on the plateau. Flowering was super-abundant (an expression I heard a few times). They left 12 buds per plant and then ended up with 5-8, which was a 50% reduction in the crop. It was costly but critical, and if you cast your eyes down the page, it proved well worth it, too! Interestingly, mildew was less of a problem here than expected. Tracey described this as “a fight that was always winnable” because of lessons learned in 2021. They brought up 50 people from the harvesting team, nice and early, and they dropped fruit and carried out a trie sanitaire: removing partial bunches, cleaning and a little leaf thinning. Tracey noted that cover crops worked nicely, and ‘spot-captures’, which send spores off to a lab coupled with mini-weather-station data, give them a lot of data so they can be incredibly accurate with their treatments. Yields remained healthy, and with nicely aerated canopies, the August heatwave had little effect, but the hot temperatures in early September made everything a little more unpredictable. They started harvesting Merlot on the 8th of September, and the plateau was finished in a couple of days. The rains came on the 21st and 22nd of September, but it was much less than predicted. With no sign of botrytis, they gambled and harvested later despite a slight dilution from around 130 to 110g; they carried out a small amount of bleeding and maintained spectacular fruit quality. Selection-wise, everything was hand-harvested and hand-sorted, and every berry went through a trie optique (even on Madame). The installation of smaller conical-shaped cuves gives rich but soft tannins, and there, a vast collection of seriously intense wines, was made at this property. What strikes me so clearly about this wine is that all these efforts and attention to detail are evident in the glass. Ducru is as fit and supple as I have ever seen it. It is not a big wine but a street dancer: elegant, immensely strong, agile, decorous, and mesmerising. On the surface, this finely tuned Cabernet is the model of decorum, but the explosive perfume and palate crackle with visceral energy and the tasting experience from start to finish minutes later is extraordinarily involving. As the wine moves towards you, you must react, push as it pulls you, and activate the taste buds in differing sequences to onboard all the information held within this cache of flavour. Behind the surface notes, there is a discreet but unrelenting crackle of energy, dark purple, intense, cool, and thrilling. This wine is nothing short of a contemporary version of a great wine from the past. I kept seeing similarities between some shapes and colours that the phenomenal 1961 vintage has left on my flavour memory, but this wine could never have been made 60 years ago. It is a wine of its time, and it is entirely captivating. 19.5+/20 Rating: 19.5+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2024)
The 2023 Ducru-Beaucaillou is a heady, sumptuous Saint-Julien. The aromatics alone are captivating. Truffle, rose petal, blood orange, pomegranate, spice and menthol build in a creamy, lavish Ducru. The 2023 is a classic Bruno Borie wine that emphasizes textural opulence. Time in the glass brings out gorgeous floral and spice-driven top notes. The balance of opulence and vibrancy is compelling. Drinking range: 2033 - 2063 Rating: 95-97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (May 2024)
The grand vin from Bruno Borie and team is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 15% Merlot. A fairly remarkable hue in the glass, glossy and dense. The nose is intense, focused, very fragrant, almost Margaux-like (the Palmer interpretation of Margaux, anyway) with savoury black fruits, black olive and currant, but also very confident floral expression, with notes of black violets and rose petals, infused with dark chocolate. This translates into a dense but sinewy and lithe palate, with a very dark and floral flavour profile, a very glossy and fine texture, and a tightly knit but dense wrapping of dark tannins, which hold the middle and finish in a fairly firm grip. A top left bank wine, with the intense tannic structure that marks some of the best Cabernet wines of this vintage. An impressive composition, but one that I sense will need much time in barrel and bottle before it is approachable. An iron fist in a floral-velvet glove, and perhaps a wine for your children. The alcohol level is about 13%. Rating: 94-96 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2024)
This has aromas of blackberries and blackcurrant, as well as graphite and flint. Some gunpowder. It’s full-bodied with extremely refined tannins, a creamy character and al-dente fruit at the finish. Crunchy, succulent and linear. Mineral edge to it, like licking a stone. Energetic. 83% cabernet sauvignon and 17% merlot. Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2024)
Château Ducru Beaucaillou
St Julien Deuxième cru 1855 When the Beychevelle estate was broken up in 1642, in order to pay off the debts of the deceased owner, it gave birth to three Châteaux - Beychevelle, Branaire-Ducru and Ducru-Beaucaillou. Château Ducru Beaucaillou was so named because of the quality lent to the wine by the large pebbles in the soil - the "good pebbles" being "beau caillou" (although it was originally "Maucaillou", "bad pebbles" not being much use for any other kind of agriculture). In 1795, the estate was purchased by Bertrand Ducru, and the name was complete. The early years on the 20th Century were not kind to Ducru-Beaucaillou, but salvation was on hand with its purchase by Francis Borie in 1941. Apart from some problems with TCA during the late 1980's, the tenure of the Borie family has been a time of continuing improvement at Ducru-Beaucaillou. Today, Francis' grandson Bruno Borie heads up the estate. The Borie family also own Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste and Château Haut Batailley. The 75ha of vineyard are planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot have, apparently, left the blend. The Grand Vin spends 18 to 20 months in wood, with the proportion of new wood varying between vintages. A second wine was introduced in 1995 - La Croix de Beaucaillou. Also produced at Ducru-Beaucaillou is Château Lalande-Borie from vineyard purchased from Château Lagrange in 1970 which, although it could perfectly legally be absorbed into Château Ducru Beaucaillou, has always been produced as a seperate wine.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those on the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do contact our private client team via email or on 020 7018 0187.
Ordering
Prices are all in bond by the case size stated.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment to buy wines on release, as long as the release price is within the upper and lower price bands set by you on the pre-order form. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability but providing this firm commitment to buy effectively gives you priority and is a good idea for the most desirable wines.
Wines listed on the website can be ordered in the usual way via the website wishlist order form. You can also send orders directly to our private client team via email. Please note that, for the most sought-after wines, priority will be given to those who ordered the same wines last year and to those that have pre-ordered.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of email confirmation. Pre-orders are not binding if the release price is above your upper price band.
Invoices are all raised at the in bond price (excluding any duty and VAT) which will become payable at the prevailing rates when the wines arrive in the UK, should you wish to take duty paid delivery.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We regret we cannot accept credit cards for en primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (at LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £500. Orders below this total will be charged an administration and handling fee of £16.50+ VAT when invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery of 2023 Bordeaux bought en primeur is expected during 2026. Delivery dates may vary as wines are shipped from Bordeaux at different times.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes). Immediate payment of invoices is then required by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option but please note that confirmed orders are still binding even if the final invoice has not yet been issued.
Please specify on your wishlist order form where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. If this is to a third-party bonded warehouse, please specify the relevant account details. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue a second invoice for duty and VAT at the prevailing rate when the wines are available for delivery.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the format you want. While most of our listings are for 75cl bottles, we can source wines in any format that is offered by the Château. Please note that format requests cannot be changed once wines have been invoiced. Additional charges for special formats do apply and are as follows:-
- +£18.00 per case of 12 half-bottles
- +£30.00 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£7.50 per case of 3 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£11.00 per case of 6 Magnums
- +£45.00 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£60.00 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.
Storage Options:
Wines bought en primeur won't arrive in the UK until 2026. If you do not wish to take home delivery at that point, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our private client team for more information.