Appellations

Croix Ducru Beaucaillou (2nd label of Ducru) 2018

St Julien, Second wine

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Tasting Notes

Just as it was en primeur, the 2018 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is rich, sensual and enveloping. Silky tannins wrap around a core of blackberry jam, chocolate, spice, lavender and new leather. All the elements are so well balanced in this sumptuous, racy Saint-Julien. A warm growing season yielded small berries and heady, concentrated flavors. This is such a gorgeous wine. The blend is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot.

Score: 93 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025 - 2038 Date: 26 August 2021

The 2018 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is an outrageously beautiful, vivid wine. Gravel, crushed rocks, menthol, lavender, espresso, licorice and dark spice all infuse a racy, sumptuous Saint-Julien loaded with personality and class. In 2018 La Croix is especially fine. Ample, voluptuous and racy to the core, the 2018 is stunning in its beauty. I can't wait to taste it from bottle. The 2018 is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. Tasted two times.

Score: 91 - 94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Date: 01 April 2019

The 2018 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou (note the subtle change of name) was raised 12 months in barrel (60% new) and then transferred into vat, and bottled in June 2020. It has a seductive though almost understated bouquet that bides its time, unfolding to reveal black cherries, menthol (though less prominently than out of barrel) and hints of fennel and clove. There is something reassuringly complex about this Deuxième Vin. The palate is vibrant and lively on the entry, retaining the vitality and vigor it showed en primeur. Succulent ripe tannins belie the structure of this La Croix de Beaucaillou, which delivers an engaging saline finish. It has calmed down since I tasted it in barrel, although there is still a soupçon of fieriness on the aftertaste emanating from the 15% alcohol, which is why I am prudent with my score.

Score: 92 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024 - 2045 Date: 21 August 2021

The 2018 Croix de Beaucaillou comes from vines in the heart of the appellation and sees 12 months in 80% new oak. Deep purple in hue, the bouquet is sensual and ravishing with precocious kirsch, menthol, fig and red berry scents that explode from the glass. This is no shy retiring wallflower! The palate is packed to the rafters with rich, red berry fruit laced with white pepper, sage, mint and touches of fresh fig. It is one of the most decadent Croix de Beaucaillou that I have tasted at this prenatal stage, a heady and hedonistic Saint-Julien that will appeal to those who like that style. At 15.0% alcohol and with an IPT of 96, make sure you either give this a few years in bottle or cancel the early morning appointment the following day.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024-2045 Date: 01 November 2019

The second wine of this great domaine is the 2018 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou. A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, this ripe, opulent beauty boasts a dense purple color to go with a sexy, full-bodied style showing loads of blackcurrants, cassis, spice, candied violet, and tobacco-like aromas and flavors. Plush, full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, this is one big, sumptuous Saint-Julien that's going to evolve for 15-20 years or more.

Score: 94 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2021 - 2041 Date: 19 July 2021

While the 2018 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is often thought of as the second wine of Ducru-Beaucaillou, it’s actually from a separate parcel on the northern part of the estate and is a stand-alone wine based on 55% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Petit Verdot that will spend 12 months in 60% new French oak. Offering terrific purity of fruit as well as notes of graphite, lead pencil, cassis, and blackberries, it’s medium to full-bodied, has a distinct sense of minerality, good structure, and outstanding length. I’d be thrilled to drink bottles over the coming decade or more.

Score: 91 - 93 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Date: 01 May 2019

The 2018 La Croix de Beaucaillou is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, aged 12 months in two-third new barriques. It has a pH of 3.75, 15% alcohol and an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 96. Deep garnet-purple colored, it rolls effortlessly out of the glass with vibrant notes of crushed blueberries, baked plums and blackcurrant cordial with hints of bouquet garni, underbrush, clove oil and cast-iron pan. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a sturdy frame of firm, grainy tannins and just enough freshness supporting the muscular black fruits, finishing earthy. Not a second wine as such, because it comes from a dedicated part of the vineyard, the blocks for La Croix de Beaucaillou are generally located on the south bank of the La Mouline steam.

Score: 92 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2022 - 2039 Date: 11 July 2021

This is not a second wine as such, because it comes from a dedicated part of the vineyard, located on the south bank of La Mouline. The 2018 La Croix de Beaucaillou is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, to be aged 12 months in 60% new barriques. It has a pH of 3.75, 15% alcohol and an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 96. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little closed and broody to begin, offering subtle notions of fertile loam, tobacco, truffles and cast iron pan with a core of crème de cassis, blackberry compote and boysenberries with hints of underbrush and bay leaves. Full, rich and seductive in the mouth, it has firm, rounded tannins and just enough freshness to lift the dense fruit to a long finish.

Score: 91 - 93 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Date: 23 April 2019

The 2018 Croix has an IPT of 96 that comes from the unusually small size and thick skins of the Merlots, Cabernets and Petit Verdots. It's a huge wine filled with deep, vivid and intense pencil lead, cassis and sweet black cherry, with a silky texture. It's aged in 70% new oak but this is already well integrated, and the wine is wonderfully stretched out through the palate. An impressive La Croix. 3.75pH.

Score: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2026-2038 Date: 15 April 2019

This is so savory and delicious with dark-berry and mushroom character and cedar undertones. Lavender and smoke as well. Full body, firm and silky tannins and a flavorful finish.

Score: 94 - 95 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Date: 11 April 2019

The solid core of kirsch and plum sauce flavors is laced with apple wood and graphite notes. Direct and well-built.

Score: 90 - 93 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator Date: 01 April 2019