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Ducru Beaucaillou 1982

St Julien, Second Growth

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Tasting Notes

The finest bottle I’ve had of this wine (which came from the estate), the 1982 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou continues to drink brilliantly and is a magical Saint-Julien. Still healthy ruby hued with a mature yet insanely complex bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, cedary herbs, graphite, tobacco, and forest floor, it’s powerful yet seamless on the palate, with resolved tannins, no hard edges, and a fabulous finish. This is mature Bordeaux in all its glory. Drink bottles any time over the coming two decades.

Score: 97

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2020-2040 13 February 2020

Sweet, liquorice nose and rather attractively pungent on the finish. Still a very good wine with such fruit intensity that I initially took it for a right bank wine. (It was served blind.)

Score: 17+

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 1995-2020 04 March 2016

Still quite firm, relatively youthful crimson. Still quite youthful on the nose too - even slightly raw! Not gracious or easy. Rather crude and too much like hard work to taste without food. Not the sweet richness of 1982 - very chewy still as though it will never quite soften and charm the drinker - although I’m sure that served in isolation with food it would be transformed.

Score: 17

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2005-2015 15 August 2007

Initially this dense, sweet wine was wonderfully brisk and energetic, with an intriguing mineral edge to it. Round, almost porty but fresh and vital. Then, as it sat in the glass, it seemed to lose that vitality and became just a little bit stolid. Of all these wines, this is the one that probably most needs drinking.

Score: 17

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2000-2005 10 March 2006

This is a wine that I had forgotten about. It shows beautiful sweet tobacco, flowers, and currants on the nose. It’s full body, silky with fine tannins. It’s ready and pretty. Served from imperial bottle.

Score: 93

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 19 January 2011

This Ducru '82 has always been a beauty. Dark ruby in color, with a slight amber edge. Very fresh and floral, with loads of berry and rose character. Medium-bodied, with a good balance of soft tannins and a caressing finish. Drink Now.

Score: 91

James Suckling, Wine Spectator 30 November 1998

A subsequent tasting revealed one of the all-time great Ducrus, probably matched or eclipsed by several recent vintages (i.e., 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008). The 1982 is still 5-8 years away from full maturity, but it exhibits a dense ruby/plum/garnet color to the rim as well as a sweet perfume of forest floor, spice box, cedar, and copious quantities of black fruits. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully pure with sweet tannins, this wine has aged more slowly than I initially expected. It is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou produced after the 1961 and before the 2003.

Score: 96

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 30 June 2009

At a charity dinner in Charleston, SC, the 1982 Ducru Beaucaillou from my cellar was the only corked bottle out of twenty-two. A subsequent tasting revealed one of the all-time great Ducrus, probably matched or eclipsed by several recent vintages (i.e., 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008). The 1982 is still 5-8 years away from full maturity, but it exhibits a dense ruby/plum/garnet color to the rim as well as a sweet perfume of forest floor, spice box, cedar, and copious quantities of black fruits. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully pure with sweet tannins, this wine has aged more slowly than I initially expected. It is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou produced after the 1961 and before the 2003.

Score: 96

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 30 June 2009

A strong effort for this estate, the 1982 exhibits sweet aromas of plums, licorice, earth, and flowers. The tannins are slightly rustic, but the sweetness of the fruit, the broad expansive mouthfeel, and the wine’s full maturity represent a classic Bordeaux at the top of its game. Enjoy it over the next 5-8 years.

Score: 93

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2009-2017 01 June 2009

One of the few top Medocs that seems to be close to full maturity, the 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou shows a dense, almost inky, plum/garnet color, a striking nose of minerals intermixed with cedar, black currant, autumnal leaves, and spice box. The wine is chewy and opulent, particularly for a Ducru-Beaucaillou, with a lot of flesh and concentration. The tannins are still there, but are sweet, and the velvety finish is suggestive of a wine that has entered its plateau of maturity. A gorgeous effort, and certainly the best Ducru-Beaucaillou until the mid- to late nineties.

Score: 94

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2003-2016 01 January 2003

A wine of extraordinary aromatic complexity and finesse, this sweet effort possesses a dark ruby color with a pink rim. Once past the gloriously complex aromatics (blueberries, black currants, minerals, and underbrush), the wine reveals terrific fruit intensity, excellent harmony, medium body, sweet tannin, and a long finish. This superb, elegant 1982 has achieved full maturity, but it promises to last for another 15+ years.

Score: 94

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2000-2015+ 30 June 2000

Full ruby-red. Slightly musty aromas of currant and cigar box. Fat and full, but with an intrusive dry edge suppressing the wine fruit and verve and repeating on the finish.

Score: 87

Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar 01 July 2002