Tasting Notes and Scores
This displays clear traces of coffee bean, dark chocolate and a swirl of creamy mocha - I can see a parallel with the La Croix 2012. The texture is silky, with the pressure from the tannins suggesting just how well this will age. No need to wait too long to get going on this wine though, and it has a gourmet edge that's hard to resist. Drinking Window: 2020 - 2038
Tasted by: Jane Anson (at Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, 21 Sep 2019)
Part of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou vertical tasting: 1953-2018
Decanter
Mesmerizing aromas of blackberries, licorice and mint. Wet stones too. Full-bodied and tight with super-refined and polished tannins that are pinpointed and elegant. It caresses your palate. Savory and salty on finish. Electric for the vintage. Better in 2018.
James Suckling
A big wine for the year, the 2012 Ducru-Beaucaillou possesses striking depth and intensity from start to finish. Sweet tobacco, cedar, smoke and savory herb overtones add intrigue to this deep, fleshy Saint-Julien. I imagine the 2012 will age for several decades based on its fruit density. Whether the tannins ever become noble is another question. Still, it is impossible not to admire the wine's pure depth. Jan 2016
Antonio Galloni
Produced from a blend that includes the highest percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon recorded in the history of the estate at 91%. The remainder of the blend is Merlot. Reaching 13% ABV, the wine has a pH of 3.61. Smoke, licorice, boysenberry, coffee, and tobacco leaf notes produced a refined wine, which relies more on elegance than power. The wine offers good freshness in its medium-bodied, red and black fruit-filled finish. Bruno Borie, who has started comparing the style of his wines to various beautiful women, likened this wine to Fan BingBing, the famous Chinese actress. Her style was slinky and sensuous and, according to Borie, accurately describes the 2012 Ducru Beaucaillou. Tasted April 2013
Jeff Leve
I loved the 2012 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, a more up-front, supple, approachable, and seamless wine that has plenty of classic Ducru Beaucaillou purity and elegance, with its structure nicely integrated and balanced. Ripe currants, dried tobacco, smoked earth, and chocolaty nuances all give way to a medium to full-bodied, layered, forward Saint-Julien that can be enjoyed any time over the coming two decades, and I have no doubt, given the overall balance here, that it will have a gradual decline thereafter. Oct 2023
Jeb Dunnuck
Made from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, the 2012 Ducru-Beaucaillou is deep garnet in color. It comes barreling out of the glass with bold notions of plum preserves, black cherry compote, and warm cassis, followed by hints of cardamom, pencil shavings, and bay leaves. The medium-bodied palate is wonderfully savory, with a lively line and firm yet approachable tannins supporting the muscular black fruits, finishing with impressive energy. It is drinking nicely now, but there is no rush to broach it. LPB Sept 2023 The Wine Independent
Tim Atkin
Quality 930 | Brand 993 | Economics 846 |
investment staple
Quality: The highest Quality score in its peer group for the 2012 vintage, at 930 compared to a peer group average of 713
Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 44 of the world's top wine lists, including Le Calandre
Economics: More traded at auction than its peers, its top 5 vintages having seen 3,041 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year
Production:
- www.wine-lister.com June 2017
Wine Lister
Offers an almost lavish feel, with layers of warmed fig, blackberry paste and raspberry coulis lined with ganache, anise and fruitcake flavors. A rock-solid graphite note lines the finish, showing just the slightest twinge of the vintage's austerity. A very admirable effort. Best from 2018 through 2027.
Wine Spectator
Deep garnet in color, the 2012 Ducru-Beaucaillou offers up expressive, exuberant scents of warm kirsch, black raspberries and wild blueberries with hints of sassafras, cedar chest, pencil lead and dried mint plus a waft of dried leaves. Medium-bodied, the palate has lovely freshness and a fair bit of chew, complementing the youthful black and red fruit layers, finishing on a lingering earthy note. LPB Aug 2020
Wine Advocate
(91% Cabernet Sauvignon/9% Merlot)
Nose is so classy and engaging, complex, great use of oak. Very stylish, great concentration but featherweight. Crunch, brightness but ripe too. Almost all Cabernet Sauvignon (91%). Long finish, excellent balance.
Bordeaux Index
[91CS/9M] Fine, mineral scented nose; lovely balance of great class, fresh-to-vital, concentrated, very fine textured tannin; long, sweet, complex and refined top notch St Julien, a crisply-sweet cabernet dominated flavour, long across the palate, close textured, tenacious, aristocratic, linear, with a lovely Bordeaux minerality behind the fruit and with first rate length of both fruit and the gravelly aromas. Beautiful overall harmony, a splendidly complete Ducru of substance, finesse and great scope. 2022-35+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2013]
Michael Schuster
The 2012 Ducru-Beaucaillou has a well-defined and quite concentrated bouquet with blackberry, bilberry and cedar aromas that open nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine balance and grip. This is a well-proportioned Saint-Julien with just the right amount of bitterness that lends an edginess to the finish. Very fine. Tasted blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. Sept 20222
Neal Martin
Drink 2022-2038
91% Cabernet Sauvignon! Bruno Borie had a vat that represented 0.75% of the total blend and Bruno claims you could taste the difference between whether it was included. Brilliant crimson. Just a hint of green leaves. A bit of meat extract. Great texture. Transparent. Really rather delicate – more so than other St-Juliens. Chapeau! Very distinctive. Fresh and delicate. Good interpretation of the vintage.
Jancis Robinson
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