Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou   Ducru Beaucaillou

2005 Ducru Beaucaillou

By Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou

The 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou from Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, St-Julien, Bordeaux

The Bordeaux vintage of 2005 resounds with the echo of encomiums, often heralded for its superior quality and astoundingly harmonious conditions. In that illustrious cohort, the 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou embodies the pinnacle of what St-Julien can offer. The wine's incipient promise upon release has burgeoned into a triumphant reality over the years.

 

An Exemplary Vintage Reflects Resplendent Terroir

The year 2005 was an exemplar of climatic benevolence. A mild spring coupled with an ideally warm summer proffered optimal ripening and superbly healthy vines at harvest time. The 2005 vintage from Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou leverages this backdrop, surfacing as a testament to patience and providence in equal measure. Soft tannins anchor opulent fruits and Spenserian notes of graphite in a dance of structure and suppleness.

 

Investment Worthy Heritage

As an astute choice for the discerning investor, the 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou stands as an icon of both excellence in winemaking and appreciative potential in maturation. The depth and intensity inherent in every bottle magnify not only the wine's stature but also its worth as a fine wine investment. It offers an alluring combination of robust youthfulness tempered with emerging notes of sophistication – a duality thriving within this especial vintage.

 

Decanting an Oeuvre: Tasting Notes on the Apex of Evolution

On approaching nearly two decades since its vinification, the 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou flaunts a regal garnet hue. Unfurling with an aristocratic bouquet of dark cherries, cassis, and cedarwood, it carries hints of truffle and tobacco indicative of its dignified evolution. On the palate, a complex tapestry woven from dark fruit layers unfolds into a polished finish – long, lingering, and vivid with minerality unique to its terroir.

In summary, the finessed craftsmanship from Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou roots deeply in its 2005 offering – a stellar embodiment capturing the essence of Bordeaux’s luxurious temperance. With its sumptuous profile and investment allure, this vintage elevates not only glasses but also portfolios, maturing as gracefully as one anticipates from such storied enclaves.

Current market price

$3,220.00

12x75cl

Highest score

97

POP score

114.12

Scores and tasting notes

97

Deep garnet colored, the 2005 Ducru-Beaucaillou needs a little coaxing before slipping sensuously out of the glass with the most alluring perfume of red roses, kirsch, star anise, cardamom and fragrant earth over a core of blackcurrant pastilles, blackberry preserves and warm plums plus a touch of tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a wonderfully taut, tightly knit frame of fine-grained tannins and bold freshness supporting the densely packed fruit, finishing long and perfumed.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Advocate, 13 August 2020

97

The 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou is a 10,000-case blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon and 33% Merlot (they used to produce 18,000-20,000 cases). It is an exceptionally powerful wine with a dense purple color, superb intensity, and a beautiful, sweet nose of spring flowers, raspberries, blueberries, graphite, and creme de cassis. Full-bodied with fabulous concentration, exceptionally high tannin, good acidity, and massive layers of richness that build incrementally on the palate, this monumental effort is more structured than their outstanding 2003. It may be the finest wine produced at this estate since the 1982 and 1961 Ducrus. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2050.

Robert Parker Jr - Wine Advocate #176 April 2008

95

A nice, complex wine with notes of flowers, berries and leather in the nose. Full-bodied, with pure fruit that turns from light raspberry to cherry jam. This is balanced and silky, a beautiful harmony. Give this some time if you can.

James Suckling - jamessuckling.com, May 1st 2012

95

Tasted at Farr’s Ducru-Beaucaillou dinner at the Ledbury. Consistent notes: this is a fantastic Saint Julien that is built for the long haul. The bouquet is tightly coiled with ebullient dark fruits, sandalwood, macerated black cherries and a hint of vanilla emanating from the unresolved new oak. The palate is full-bodied with sinewy tannins, wonderful harmony with the same ethereal sense of symmetry as the 2000. The finish is still tannic and almost “brutish”; so do not think about opening this wine before 2020. Tasted October 2010.

Neal Martin - Wine Journal Nov 2011

Vintage performance