The colour is deep ruby. On the nose cherries, strawberries, plums, caffè latte. In the mouth very elegant, silky, fresh and charming. The aftertaste last for a while.
Overall, the 2013 has been a very challenging year in Bordeaux, but this blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot is flawless and a great achievement for the vintage.
Weather wise, there were plenty of challenges right from the start of the season and generally speaking 2013 was a bad year Bordeaux, with plenty of unripe fruits. 40 years ago, a vintage like this would have been a complete disaster. But nowadays, the best producers with the drive, time, money and technology have the ability to make decent to good wine in any year.
In 2013 intense sorting was needed and growers that could afford them used optical sorting machines. Most chateau declassified as much as 50% or even 70% of the harvest and released very small amounts of their Grand Vin.
Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou produced just little more than half a harvest. This wine stand out already when I tasted the resulting wine with Mr Bruno Borie at the Château in April 2014 during the “Semaine des Primeurs” organised by the “Union des Grands Crus Bordelais”. Back then we considered it one of the bests. Ten years later, that first judgment can only be confirmed.
Founder of his own trading house, Bertrand Ducru acquired the property in 1797. His love for the Medoc wine led him to significant investments in both the cellars and the vineyard. Bertrand Ducru died in 1829. In 1855 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou was classified as a Second Growth. In 1866, the property was acquired by the merchant Nathaniel Johnston. In 1928, Ducru-Beaucaillou was bought by another trader in Médoc wines: Odon Desbarats. After enduring the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression, combined with the painful decade of the 1930s, where very mediocre vintages followed one another, he put the property up for sale after only ten years of management. The sale was slow to conclude and it was only in 1942 that Francis Borie, already owner of Château Haut-Batailley, a Fifth Growth of the neighboring municipality of Pauillac, purchased the property. Since then it stayed in the Borie family and is now managed by his grandson Bruno Borie.
I bought this wine En Primeur for 98.30 EUR. Nowadays it sell for 175 EUR (+78%), an appreciation of roughly 6% a year.
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Type: Red
Vintage: 2013
Producer: Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou
Price range: Luxury (>100 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 4/5