Château Ducru Beaucaillou 2022 Saint-Julien 2e Grand Cru Classé

Jeff Leve (The Wine Cellar Insider)
(98-100)/100 punten
Inky dark in color, the wine exudes blackberries, smoke, currants, nutmeg, flowers, Cuban cigar wrapper, black cherries, smoke, and spice in the nose. On the palate, the wine is dense, and intense, yet light on its feet with seemingly, endless waves of deep, black and red, spicy fruits. There is symmetry, balance, and freshness on the palate. The tannins are present, silky, and refined. The wine is silky, supple, creamy, and seamless in the finish, which moves from black fruits, to red fruits and back to black fruits with spice, and accents of mint and a touch of citrus at the very end of the finish, which lingers for at least 60 seconds. Ducru Beaucaillou has been on an unstoppable roll since 2009. Produced from blending 81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot, 14% ABV, 3.8 pH. Picking took place September 7 -- October 4. 

Jeb Dunnuck
(97-99)/100 punten
Moving to the Grand Vin, it's a slightly more Merlot-influenced blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot, raised in new barrels. It brings the same level of concentration and structure as the La Croix but has another level of class, elegance, and purity, with sensational aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, crushed stone, sandalwood, and graphite. The purity here is truly remarkable, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, perfectly integrated oak, silky tannins, and a great finish. This beauty hit 14% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.8 and an IPT of 95. Given its balance as well as its texture, it's going to offer pleasure with just short-term cellaring yet also evolve for decades.

The Wine Independent (Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW)
(97-99)/100 punten
The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou is made from 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot with a yield of 29 hl/ha, and represents 25% of the year's production. Deep garnet-purple in color, it soars out of the glass with graceful, energetic notes of crushed blackcurrants, redcurrant preserves, wild blueberries, and dark chocolate, followed by touches of violets, clove oil, cumin seed, and cast-iron pan. The medium to full-bodied palate is built like a skyscraper, delivering very firm, super-ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness to support the densely laden, vibrant black fruits, finishing very long with a spectacular display of mineral and floral fireworks. pH 3.80, TPI 95.

Jane Anson (Inside Bordeaux)
98/100 punten
Deep damson colour, poised and intense, a serious wine with crushed mint, graphite and bitter black chocolate on the opening beats, setting the tone for a slow reveal of confident St Julien character. Powerful tannins convey purity and precision, set against creamy cassis and bilberry fruits, with softer smoked earth and baked spice, and a slate finish. The construction is careful and measured, extremely impressive, this is has decades ahead. 3.8ph, 95IPT. 100% new oak. 30hl/h yield.

Falstaff
98/100 punten
Deep dark ruby in colour with an inky, opaque core, purple reflections, and subtle brightening on the rim. On the nose, delicate nuances of fine oak, ripe black cherry, currants, sweet spices, candied orange zest and nougat. The full-bodied, elegant palate has good freshness, with pronounced integrated tannins, fine fruit expression and notes of dark wild berries and nougat on the lengthy, mineral finish. Certain potential for future ageing for many years.

James Suckling
97-98/100 punten
Some much creme de cassis and blackcurrant aromas and flavors here. Full-bodied with powerful tannins, yet fine and layered. Chewy. You can really feel the thick grape skins here. Excellent length. Tannins spread across the palate. Minerally and crushed stone.

Decanter
97/100 punten
Beautiful and beguiling nose, perfumed blackcurrants and dark fruits; damsons, plums, raspberries and rose petals. Lovely crunchy fruit, real bite and presence in the mouth. Excellent precision, tannins are succulent and ripe they fill the mouth with a juicy, intense granular texture. There is such depth to this - perfume, tobacco, earth, violets and concentrated fruits that have a verticality to them with an unprecedented 98% of Cabernet Sauvignon providing the support and the backbone. There is a crystalline purity to the fruit giving tension to the overall frame, it’s focused and driven all with excellent definition. This is not a wallflower of a wine - it’s charming and confident, strutting its stuff right now and giving you absolut St-Julien terroir and vintage markers in the glass with slate, graphite and liquorice salinity on show. Skilled winemaking on show.

Antonio Galloni (Vinous)
(95-97)/100 punten
The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou is elegant and nuanced. Bright red/purplish fruit, rose petal, blood orange, mint and spice give the 2022 unusual brilliance. In most recent vintages, Ducru had been on the opulent side. The 2022, on the other hand, is strict and linear in construction, a wine that is more about persistence than size. Bright saline underpinnings extend the mid-palate into the striking, beaming finish. Harvest took place over four weeks, the longest ever, as opposed to the two weeks or so that is the norm. Yields were 30hl per hectare, down from the 35-37 typical in recent years.

Neal Martin (Vinous)
(95-97)/100 punten
The 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou contains less Cabernet than last uea and is closer to the normal blend of the Grand Vin, picked between 7 September and 4 October - the longest harvest in their history. The IPT is 95. Matured in 100% new oak, the bouquet bides its time in the glass, almost reluctantly unfurling with scents of blackberry, briary, cigar humidor and sous-bois. At this nascent stage, it is more backward than its peers. 

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
94-96/100 punten
One of the Médoc's most powerful wines this year is the 2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou, a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot that opens in the glass with aromas of dark cherries and berries mingled with pencils shavings, vanilla pod and spices. Full-bodied, broad-shouldered and muscular, with a core of ripe but lively fruit underpinned by a chassis of powdery, liberally extracted tannin that asserts itself on the finish, it's a punchy, modern Saint-Julien reminiscent of a hypothetical blend of the 2018 and 2020.

Jancis Robinson
17.5/20 punten
Inky crimson with black core. Dark, rich and intense aroma of ripe black fruit and some slight dark florals. Some coal dust. Black olive savour. Concentrated, dark, massively oaky and a little bit charry. Tannins are thick but not dry, smooth but dense. Exuberant underneath the oak.