TN: 1995 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien)

WINE TALK
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  • 1995 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (9/17/2009)
    Decanted for 2 hours and developed and changed dramatically over another 3 hours. The nose went from an intense smokiness to a cassis and tar bouquet. Out of the decanter, there was a ton of soft red fruit but it dropped off later and the wine almost was austere. With another 30 minutes of air (and food), the fruit just exploded out of the glass. Its really hard to imagine that this was the same wine from start to finish.

With another bottle in the cellar, I’m going to wait another 5-10 years on this one. I think it is going to go to a wonderful place. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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I had this recently in Seattle and was blown away by how sweet the fruit was in the first half hour. I had it along side the 95 La Mission Haut Brion. They seemed to converge toward each other over about three hours. Both were fantastic and drinking very, very well.

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Great to hear this and a few other reports. (Warning: mild thread drift towards '95 Bordeaux in general dead ahead). I was just starting to buy seriously when the '95 Bordeaux hype arrived, and I’ve been concerned about a number of purchases from that vintage due to quality of tannins and balance with fruit. I’ve been letting them all rest (haven’t had one of the Ducrus), except for a few lower tier wines. Those have been OK, not great, which has not helped my concern. OTOH, the '95 Roc de Cambes was magnificent early drinking, totally delicious. A try of '95 Pontet Canet last month showed it closed way down tight… and I can’t imagine opening one of the Ducrus or Angelus we have just yet.

But back to topic, glad to know that some folks are finding fruit in this and some other high-end '95s.

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Had this a few weeks ago. Ours was quite tight on openeing. It was then decanted and opened after an hour or two. I think you are right to hold these still.