The 1999 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou offers a complex bouquet of dried cherries, fruitcake, red currant jelly, and hints of balsamic, menthol, and star anise. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with vibrant, youthful red and black fruit flavors, fine tannins, and a long, spicy finish. This structured wine remains fresh and will continue to age gracefully, with potential for another decade or more. A fine example of a classic St-Julien with impressive longevity.

The Wine Advocate | RP 93+
Published: Aug 13, 2020
Drink: 2020-2038

Medium brick colored, the 1999 Ducru-Beaucaillou needs a little swirling to release the tightly coiled notions of dried cherries, fruitcake and red currant jelly with emerging hints of balsamic, mincemeat pie, menthol, powdered chocolate and star anise. The medium to full-bodied palate is wonderfully expressive with seamless freshness lightly lifting a great core of youthful red and black fruits plus fine-grained tannins to support, finishing with lingering savory and spice layers. This well-structured spice-bomb still has a lot of years left!

Decanter | D 91
Published: Jun 1, 2021
Drink: 2022-2027

The 1999 Ducru-Beaucaillou offers aromas of raspberry, plum, black cherry, and mocha intertwined with grilled aromas. This juicy wine possesses a sappy texture, firm tannins and a long and penetrating finish with sous bois aromas. Fine-grained tannins will allow five more years in the cellar.
Closure: Natural Cork
Alcohol: 13.00%
Body: Full
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 17
Published: Apr 4, 2022
Drink: 2012-2030

73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot. 18 months in French oak (66% new). Rainy vintage meant strict selection of only 60% of the crop was needed.
Transparent dark garnet. Very firm, classic nose – no obvious sweetness. Cassis and sleek – rather winning and silky. Very fine traditional St-Julien character with great balance. Classic dry, appetising finish and just a very light kick of tannin on the end. A surprising success – my favourite Ducru in this selection too ­– from a distinctly uncelebrated vintage! 

Chateau-ducru-beaucaillou.com

For 300 years, six families have nurtured an indelible bond with Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. They are forever captives of this prestigious estate, be they named Desjean, Bergeron, Ducru, Johnston, Desbarat, or Borie. Its families were never short of praise for it. Over the decades, this devotion has managed to overcome all that is accidental or fleeting, as if passion perfected Nature's opus. 

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou owes its name to its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux Cailloux", in French) that geologists refer to less romantically as Gunzian gravel. These quartz pebbles were deposited by the ancient Garonne at the beginning of the early Quaternary period, some two million years ago. It suffices to take a walk through the vineyards to make rich lithological finds. Lydian jasper from the Pyrenees, flint, quartz, agatoids... These Gunzian gravels make for soils that are poor in plant nutrients. But it is their very agrological paucity that guarantees the qualitative excellence of the wines. A choice of nature. 

The result is in the glass. The allure is immediate. A soft, fruity attack on the palate, a voluptuousness underscored by perfectly integrated, silky tannins that culminate in an exceptionally lengthy finish. The aromas dance, flatter the nose, seduce the soul and penetrate the memory. A muse that arrives on tiptoe and leave a lasting, infinite souvenir.