The second wine of the estate is the 2020 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou, composed of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot brought up in 60% new French oak. It's a much more concentrated, structured wine offering classic cassis and blackberry fruits intermixed with notes of scorched earth, tobacco, graphite, and chocolate. Playing in the medium to full-bodied end of the spectrum, it has a great mid-palate as well as the vintage's rich, deep, powerful style. It's going to have some up-front appeal given its balance as well as the quality of the tannins, but this is a serious wine for reserving 2-4 years in the cellar, and it should easily have 15-20 years of prime drinking.

The 2020 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou, matured in 60% new oak for an expected 12 months, is pleasantly reduced on the nose, opening up in the glass with intense black fruit laced with black olive and subtle estuarine scents. The palate is medium-bodied with an appealing powdery texture. A structured Saint-Julien with tangible backbone and grip on the finish. Yet, there is exquisite balance and impressive salinity on the aftertaste. Excellent.

Tobacco, cedar, mint leaf, cigar box and black currants come together on the nose. The wine is refined, soft and supple with silky tannins, ripe, sweet, fruits, lift and freshness. The elegant finish with its black cherry, mocha and spice nuances tastes as good as it feels. Hold this for 3-5 years before opening a bottle and it will really start showing its essence. The wine is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. 92-94

(53% CS, 44% M, 3% PV; 33% harvest; 13.7% ABV; 60% new)
The second wine of Ducru-Beaucaillou. Lightly blackcurrant Cabernet, plus a Merlot-herbal, wild-rose aroma, very gently gravelly; medium-full, fresh, finely tannic, long and elegant and even, its rich, ripe red fruit enveloped in a close-grained tannin, sweet-cored, lightly mineral in aromas, a marked “fresh” impression giving it just a hint of austerity, and with a fine fruit persistence. Very Ducru, very St-Julien in its overall elegance and poise. 2027–40+.

Drink Date
2024 - 3037

Reviewed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown

The 2020 La Croix de Beaucaillou is composed of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. It has 13.75% alcohol and a pH of 3.78 with an IPT of 91. It is set to age for 12 months in French oak barrels, 60% new. Deep garnet-purple in color, it leaps from the glass with vibrant scents of crushed redcurrants, black raspberries and fresh black berries, plus hints of bay leaves, lavender and damp soil. The medium-bodied palate is full of energetic red and black berry layers with a grainy texture and just enough freshness, finishing with an herbal lift.