2017 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien

Tasting notes

Color : deep, dark purple
Nose : a stunning and tight bouquet, very compact, which opens with airing to give a fine fruit with floral notes and a touch of violet. Later, after swirling, there is a touch of graphite.
Palate : juicy, tasty, supported by a fine freshness. A captivating wine; a lot of body, very high standard, remarkable length. A very academic construction.

Vintage Notes

Winter was cold and dry, spring has been totally the opposite, hot and rainy. In April, the tendency changes again with an alarming lack of rain and hot temperatures. A serious period of frost (April 27,28 and 29) caused damage according to the terroir : the terroirs of Beaucaillou, located just above the estuary, were once again (cf. 21 April 1991) spared from a a particularly biting cold (-5°C in St. Laurent). The summer was rainy at times but overall dry. The vintage was early but at the end of a fine and dry summer the September rains give a new life to the vines, completing the ripening of the grapes. The grapes harvested had perfect technicological ripeness and very high phenolic potential, because of the previous three months climatic conditions.

Viticulture

The harvesting of Merlot on the Ducru-Beaucaillou plateau began on 18 September and finished on 23 September. Cabernet-Sauvignon were picked in two successive selections. The harvesting start on 25 September and finished on 30 September.

Vinification

The Sample shown was taken from the final selection carried out in the first quarter of 2018. This wine will be aged 18 months in new oak barrels. Our barrels are made from certified French oak, dried naturally outdoors. Regular toppings up are carried out during the first six months of ageing. The wines are racked from the bottom of the barrels every two or three months for a total of seven rackings during the ageing period. Tradition fining with egg whites is carried out in the barrels. The bottling is carried out in sterile atmosphere under inert gas. Only best quality, natural corks 54 mm in length are used. Our bottles are engraved with the name Ducru-Beaucaillou, marked by laser and bear a label which includes a hologram.