2019 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Le Petit Ducru de Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien

Tasting notes

LE PETIT DUCRU is a wine of balance and harmony. An elixir of youth. It is there, alive and well, a rendezvous with pleasure. Accessible from its earliest youth, uninhibited in its Chaplinesque antics. It will make for a happy dining companion in restaurants. It will make for a perfect marriage with poultry where it will bow down before its crispy, brown skin and envelop the steaming flesh with its tannins. LE PETIT DUCRU tastes of Sundays. Above all, it tastes of friendship.

Colour: intense, crimson red velvet.
Nose: complex, beautiful expression of the freshness of the Cabernets, stewed red fruit with well-controlled toasty notes.
Palate: delicious. Superb breadth. Elegant and balanced, beautiful finish and great length.

Vinification

LE PETIT DUCRU portends an introduction to the Borie signature, a courteous invitation to approach the qualities of its elders, Ducru-Beaucaillou and La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou; from its complexity to its structure, by way of its balance and its elegance. There is, of course, a family resemblance, a wonderful complicity between the three nectars. They know what they have in common: a rigorous technical process, drastic selection, demanding winemaking. Here, barrel ageing lasts for 12 months with one-third new oak. A Cabernet-Merlot blend and depending on the vintage, sometimes with a hint of Petit Verdot, varietal that we know to be a skillful sculptor.

Anthocyanins 1072
pH 3,79
Total polyphenol index 87

Le Petit Ducru 2019 will age for twelve months in Bordeaux barrels, 30% in new oak and the balance in one-year barrels (twelve months). Oak of certified French origin, naturally dried outdoors for a guaranteed minimum of three years. Regular topping-up during the first six months, racking every two or three months with a total of four rackings. Sterile bottling under inert gas will take place in June/July 2021. 49 mm natural cork.