2000 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou- France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (2/2/2014)
Opened one of these for a friends 50th and simply couldn’t resist opening another last night. Stunning, textbook Bordeaux! Everything you, (I) want in Bordeaux - forest floor, graphite, pencil shavings, great acidity, smooth but ample tannins, thickish mouthfeel and a long earthy finish. Perfect balance between fruit, acid and tannins here. This is just entering its drinking window and will drink well for many years to come, at least 20. Mine won’t last that long. NOTE: Decanted for 2-3 hours. (96 pts.)
I’ve had it 2-3 times over the last year or so and agree 100%. Even in comparison tastings with the 1st’s this shows extremely well. I only have a couple bottles so will be holding for at least another 5yrs.
Ed and Josh, I agree, this is an excellent, top quality Bordeaux. I had it in a comparative tasting of very good 2000 Bordeaux last year and it was clearly my WOTN, as it was in the room, overall. My notes refer to the excellent balance, structure and concentration of this wine. Absolutely classical Bordeaux.
I just love these wines and am so very sorry to see them move up in price so aggressively. One of only three 2012s I have bought because they were under $60, a price I think it is unlikely we will see again any time soon.
With the exception of Latour and Margaux, the 2012 Ducru was my wine of the vintage. An incredible buy under $60, and the only 2012 I bought. You did good, grasshopper.
I have mags of 2000. Still way too young, but everything that was described. Ducru along with Montrose are, for me, two wines which really deserve to be promoted to first growth.
Thanks for the note. Most of the 2000’s I have tried are still slumbering tight so I hadn’t thought about checking on one of these. I am somewhat surprised to hear its drinking so well now.
Here in NZ the pricing of Ducru has moved off into the stratosphere, towards First Growth pricing, as these have garnered more favourable reviews.
For example, at a 2009 Bdx tasting last year I was offered 2009 Ducru (my TN “impenetrable depth, incredible intensity”) at equivalent of US$610. At the comparable 2010 tasting the Ducru (“a beast, huge wine, concentrated but elegant, fine grained tannins”) was ‘only’ US$450. These would of course have been a bit cheaper en primeur, but not that much …
Slightly off topic, the oak treatment on these two vintages was very prominent, much more than on the 2000. I did not have the 2000 closer to release. Does anybody know, has the oak regime always been similar on the Ducrus of the 2000s, or has the house noticeably dialed it up in more recent years?
Can you buy Ducru at auction and ship to NZ? I paid about the same for a double mag of 2010 as you would pay per bottle.
Mark, ouch. Yes, these things are possible but hard to organise and can have hidden costs. A friend was just telling me today of the delivery hassles of sourcing a couple of bottles of CSJ from the States.
These are the problems of being a small market, a long way away …
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