Ducru Beaucaillou 1989

Ducru was reputed to have some bacteria problems in the mid to late 1980s, and a lot of collectors stayed away from them. Apparently, Bruno Borie released various vintages recently, and having enjoyed the 1986, I looked forward to this, my first bottle of 1989.

The bottle was purchased from the Uk, and standing for the last three months in the cellar waiting for the weather to cool and for me to produce my mother’s recipe for roast lamb. Well tonight’s the night, and wine is sitting in the decanter. The aromas are archetypal Ducru, led by strong flavors of cassis, a touch of oak, cedar and spice. I am impatient, so I poured a small glass, and it is quite lovely. The wine is still a little cold, so I expect the finish to lengthen and fan out, otherwise, this is a very promising start.

Wasn’t it a problem resulting from some product used on the wood somewhere in the cellar (not the casks)?

I had some bad experiences, last being an 86. Tainted me for a very long time on this Chateau.

I heard it was a problem with the roof but I cannot be sure. This was actually fairly expensive, north of $220, but as I nurse this glass, it seems worth it. BTW, I am not sure where the cut off is, but 1994 onwards, it seem to be back on form.

Excited to hear the final results. Love Ducru. Been backfilling all the 2000 I can find and also picked up a couple of older bottles from the 60s.

I bought a bunch of these early on, they were languishing (I think Parker didn’t rate it). Always enjoyable if not the best DB.

I am really enjoying this. As I thought, the finish is better, and layering quite nicely. At the risk of driving young Morris crazy, and becoming a poster child on his thread, there is a lean authority to the wine. Elegant, seamless and with some laid back power.
In terms of maturity, this may be the perfect drinking spot. It is browning at the edge, and with air, it took on a slight woodsy quality, but the classic Cabernet cassis remained front and center. 94

Leve’s site says the TCA issues were 86-93/94…I have some 85 one of which I’ll be opening for my sister’s birthday in December and some 82 saving for a family member’s 40th in a few years, but will look to backfill the early 2000’s vintages one the coming years.

That’s a really encouraging composite note, Mark. Thanks much for posting

Mahalo nui loa

Mike

I love the 86 Ducru. There are a fair number of “reconditioned” bottles from the Chateau out there, and they’re fantastic.

Sounds wonderful, Mark, thanks for posting. I’ve never tried an 89 because of the taint problem, about which I started a thread two years ago:

I remember Neal Martin writing that Ducru Beaucaillou has a device that can test an individual bottle for taint, and they check before releasing any of this ‘86 - ‘94 “library stock” from the chateau. Mark was your bottle identifiable in any way as being a recent release from the chateau? I had enough faulty examples of the ‘86 and ‘90 that I have steered clear of any Ducru Beaucaillou from that period. Might reconsider if there was a way to identify bottles as a library release.

Bottle is in the trash, I am afraid.

Reconditioned ‘85/86 that hit the San Antonio market a few years ago were clearly marked as such on the back label.

I have one bottle of the above, vintage 1989. Does not say reconditioned or at least where I can find it. What was the difference between the 2?

12 years ago we did a vertical tasting of 1982, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89 and 90.
3 out of 7 had this TCA problem, 86, 88 and 90 - a shame.
Afterwards I sold all my DucruB.

I would not buy any DB of this period

Me, I always listen to Leve

At Ducru, they opened thousands of bottles smelling each for TCA. They tossed out the infected bottles, which was a very high percentage of the years mentioned above and recorked the clean bottles. The recorked bottles are clearly marked on the corks and there is probably a sticker on the bottle as well.

Yes, there is a large sticker on the bottle.

I quite understand why they should wish to clean up the wines in their cellar and re-release them - but as you say, the number of affected bottles was very high: what about the hundreds, if not thousands of poor punters who bought the stuff in the first place? I’ve never heard of any offer to replace the damaged bottles, most of which were sold by Ducru knowing full well there was a problem (at least I assume so - it’s not as if only one vintage was damaged). It’s quite incredible that they should have been allowed to get away with it.

One of the problems associated with wine in general. Once the wine is mature enough to drink, any possibility of returning as bad bottle has long gone. The situation is especially bad for Bordeaux with multiple importers and distributors.