Calon Segur in terms of classifieds.
VCC for non-classified. Angelus a close second.
Money no object- Ausone, Petrus and Lafleur
Some producers I’ve enjoyed recently and are usually good value
Right Bank - Angelus, Monbousquet, Pavie, Vieux Chateau Delicious (Certan)
Left Bank - Branaire (Duluc Ducru), Calon Segur, Brane Cantenac, Lascombes, Lynch Bages, Palmer, Pape Clement
I can’t name any that are consistently or even frequently better than the first growths, but my favorites are (in no particular order):
Left bank
La Mission Haut Brion
Pichon Baron
Pichon Lalande
Léoville Barton
Montrose
Gruaud Larose
Lynch Bages
Right bank
Vieux Chateau Certan
Canon
Conseillante
Petrus (very limited exposure, but wow)
Lafleur (also very limited exposure)
Leoville Las Cases, Ducru Beaucaillou, Sociando Mallet, Leoville Barton.
Do you put Leoville Barton, and the Pichons above Ducru.
Another person whose palate I respect leaving out Ducru. I have read in the past that people are split on Leoville las Cases, but is that also true for Ducru.
Ducru is DTM.
Way too many tainted bottles from the 1980s. I moved on. No regrets.
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Does it make sense to hold a grudge 30 years later?
Huge mistake.
Ducru is not on my list for the very long time it takes to develop complexity. The systemic TCA problem is forgivable going forward, but I’m now too old to be investing in post-TCA Ducru. I do love aged bottles when they’re on, making those bottles a worthy testimonial to adding it.
LLC is also a “takes forever to really strut its stuff” issue, and it’s a bit stern for my palate (also why Latour is not in my top 3 firsts). It’s like the Dunn Howell Mountain of Bordeaux.
LLC and Ducru: it’s me, not you. I’m just not patient enough.
My favorites from early in my Bordeaux adventures (clearly have not ventured much past Left Bank)
Ducru Beaucaillou
Calon Segur
Gruaud Larose
Cos d’ Estournel
Leoville Barton
Leoville Poyferre
+1
Ducru has released recorked bottles from the 1980s which have been checked for taint. I have had both 1986 and 1989, both wonderful.
But the wine that convinced me Ducru was back was the 1996, one of the great wines of the vintage. In terms of cost, Ducru is at the lower end of super seconds, older wines hovering at $200.
Love and respect you guys, but this comment is as silly, perhaps, as my so-called grudge. There is more quality Bordeaux than I can shake a stick at, and with the current pricing of Ducru, I really am not missing anything. Even at that $200 price for a 1996, wow, I can grab some other killer stuff that blows me away, like 2004 and 2001 VCC for even cheaper. Again, hard to say how anyone is missing anything but passing on one wine that caused you a lot of prior loss, it’s like asking me to like again a classic estate that went to Rolland.
Incidentally, I just remembered that I did grab some 2004 Ducru from a Chambers cellar sale. Have not tried it yet. I grabbed a lot of wine from that sale, and the pricing was great. So perhaps not totally DTM. But, it is my only bottle.
A couple of years ago I was able to get 2001 and 2014 Ducru for a little over $100
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Just checked. I paid $99.99 this past October.
Would you be a buyer of 2016 Montrose at $134?
I don’t know who “you” is, but were I under 45, I’d buy it all day long.
The prices no doubt have gone up, but there was a long period of time where wines from before and after the cork-tainted period were reasonably priced. The 1966 and 1970 were excellent repeat players. (EDIT: they are still excellent.). The 1995 is killer as is 1996, and so called off or lesser vintages have been great like 2001 and 2004. So I’m just saying there was a lot to miss over the years if you were put off by the 80s blip and never returned.
Also this honest house admitted the problem, and as Mark mentioned, has been very diligent to rerelease only clean tested bottles from the taint period and to be very careful since.
I love Ducru. Think it is one of a kind. More complex and texturally interesting than Barton (which I also have huge respect for), and never spoofed like my other favorite dirt in St-J, Poyferre.
I enjoy being loved and respected, but you still need to get to know Ducru. The idea of just drinking VCC every night is fun, but I would miss the really classic Cabernet that is Ducru. Besides, the pleasure of Bordeaux is its diversity, its ability to surprise, to show different expressions from its various muds.
Ditto. I picked up 6 at $149 en primeur, and W-S shows most retailers now selling in the $190-200 range, so $134 at retail is a great deal. There seemed to be a lot of winners in St-Estephe in 2016 and I bought far more there (Cos, Montrose, Calon Segur, Ormes de Pez) than any other AOC.