Beausejour Duffau 2014

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé B

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Tasting Notes

The 2014 Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse is a perplexing wine just after bottling but it appears to have settled. Here, it has a gorgeous bouquet with fine mineral-driven red berry fruit, a slight floral scent developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, quite stocky and full in the mouth, tightening in towards the finish but retaining freshness and vibrancy. This Saint-Émilion is loaded with potential. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Score: 93

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2022-2050 01 March 2018

The 2014 Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse) was an intriguing and quite mercurial Saint Emilion when I tasted it from barrel. Now in bottle, it has developed a quite compelling bouquet, very pure with black cherries, iodine, potpourri and crushed violets. The intensity is very impressive. The palate is medium-bodied with almost rigid tannin. This is a masculine wine, perhaps one that has closed down after bottle since it was so expressive from barrel. It is much more linear than I was expecting, even with a touch of hardness on the finish. It is a rather enigmatic Saint Emilion, one tricky to pin down at the moment. Hopefully more flesh will surface with bottle age and just balance out that strict finish. Let's see where this will go. Certainly I would not broach this for a few years.

Score: 91

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2021-2035 31 March 2017

The Château Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse 2014 is a blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc cropped at 39 hectoliters per hectare picked from 6 until 15 October. It represents 56% of the total production this year. Matured in 55% new oak, it actually has quite a laid-back, lighter bouquet than I was expecting, especially compared to the Pavie-Macquin '14. Giving it 5 minutes to open, it develops greater fruit intensity thanks to scents of macerated black cherries, dark plum and allspice. The palate is medium-bodied on the entry, bridled with marmalade and white pepper notes intermixed with the lush red fruit. There is impressive tension and weight here, an appetizing crescendo of flavors and a twist of bitter cherry on the finish. There is a feral element that keeps drawing you back to this complex Saint Emilion that may warrant a higher score after bottling.

Score: 90 - 92

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2038 01 April 2015

So layered with a lovely richness of chocolate, wet earth and spices, not to mention plum character. Full-bodied, tight and focused. Needs five to six years to open, but it’s a structured and beautiful wine already.

Score: 94

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 13 February 2017

A wonderful finish to this wine with a full body. Compacted and tight with beautiful ripe fruit and mineral undertones. Some walnut character too.

Score: 93 - 94

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 27 March 2015

An utterly spellbinding wine, the 2014 Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse is also one of the unqualified successes of the vintage. Beams of tannin give the 2014 its ample, broad feel. Inky red cherry, blueberry, smoke, leather and tobacco fill out the wine's big frame effortlessly. Layers of intense fruit meld into a huge spine of tannin in a vertical, massively structured Saint-Émilion. So many 2014s are charming and accessible, but this is not one of them. Readers will have to be patient.

Score: 97

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024-2044 01 February 2017

Power and finesse collide in the 2014 Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse, a breathtaking, vertical wine that hits all the right notes. Sweet black cherries, smoke, licorice and tar are some of the many notes that flesh out. The 2014 is quite dark and brooding in personality. I imagine the 2014 will drink beautifully for decades, although it is also going to need quite a bit of time to fully come together. There is so much to like here. Tiny yields in the Cabernet Franc resulted in a Beauséjour with more Merlot than is the norm. The 2014 is magnificent. It's as simple as that. In 2014, the blend is 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, all brought in between October 6 and 15.

Score: 94 - 97

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 05 May 2015

Juicy and dense, with lots of blueberry, dark plum and blackberry fruit, studded with anise and backed by a lightly brambly finish. Hedonistic and engaging, this should be fun to watch fill out fully.

Score: 93 - 96

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 01 April 2015