Chateau Branaire-Ducru 2018

The refinement and generosity of a great red wine from Saint-Julien

Member of the exclusive circle of 1855 Crus Classes, Chateau Branaire-Ducru is a 4th Classified Growth, proving its rank with each elegant new vintage. This wine, from the Saint-Julien appellation of Bordeaux, has delivered an unmissable 2018 vintage.

The 2018 vintage was one that required rigor and great investment from every estate in Bordeaux. After a wet and stressful beginning to the season, the late spring and summer were simply ideal.

Chateau Branaire-Ducru benefitted greatly from the essential qualities of any great vintage: homogeneous flowering, a hot and dry summer with ample water reserves, harvests under dry conditions, and significant thermal amplitudes... The fruit reached an optimal stage of ripeness, and a great vintage was predicted from the very first clusters picked!

A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc makes up the 2018 vintage of Chateau Branaire-Ducru. In the glass, this red wine from Saint-Julien stands out with its intense color. Its aromatic bouquet reveals ripe fruit, with a certain freshness preventing it from becoming too heavy. This is also one of the peculiarities of this vintage: the perfectly achieved balance between ripeness and freshness. And the precision of Chateau Branaire-Ducru is quite exemplary. This powerful and fleshy wine develops through the palate, with a refined density and fresh acidity, crucial to achieving a complex aromatic profile that persists for a long time. A very successful vintage.