Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 2005

The 2005 Ducru Beaucaillou is a 10,000-case blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon and 33% Merlot (they used to produce 18,000-20,000 cases). It is an exceptionally powerful wine with a dense purple color, superb intensity, and a beautiful, sweet nose of spring flowers, raspberries, blueberries, graphite, and creme de cassis. Full-bodied with fabulous concentration, exceptionally high tannin, good acidity, and massive layers of richness that build incrementally on the palate, this monumental effort is more structured than their outstanding 2003. It may be the finest wine produced at this estate since the 1982 and 1961 Ducrus. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2050.

This offers dreamy aromas of singed mesquite and warm fruitcake that meld into a lush swath of mulled currant, fig and boysenberry fruit flavors. Black tea and incense notes skitter throughout, with a mouthwatering iron edge buried deeply. -- Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 10,000 cases made.

One of the wines of the tasting, 2005 feels like an older style with hints of cigar box, a touch of pencil lead and leather suggesting this has moved nicely into the tertiary stage. Glossy blackcurrant fruit is still to the fore, with plenty of acidity to keep the wine fresh on the palate. Concentrated and with great length, the tannins (often firm and drying in many 2005s) are elegant, fresh and ripe. Will still be drinking beautifully in 15+ years.

A nice, complex wine with notes of flowers, berries and leather on the nose. Full-bodied, with pure fruit that shifts from light raspberry to cherry jam. This is balanced and silky, a beautiful harmony. Give this some time if you can.

The 2005 Ducru-Beaucaillou, tasted a dozen times since en primeur, was picked from 21 September to 6 October and matured in 90% new oak for 18 months. It delivers a wall of black fruit on the nose that gradually opens up with aeration, with touches of incense and wild mint, cedar emerging with time. But these aromatics remain very backward. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, grippy tannins, fine acidity, solid and focused. Tremendously and uncompromisingly backward, this is a seriously fine Ducru-Beaucaillou that is just not yet ready, so head back to the cellar and leave it there for another five years. Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the château.

Dense, dark, deep, intense, long, and full-bodied, the wine continues to develop, flesh out, soften, and gain complexity. You now find earthy, forest floor, tobacco leaf, cedar, pencil lead currants, and truffle. The finish delivers a big burst of spicy, sweet, fleshy black currants. Give it another year or three, and it should really start to deliver the goods. The wine blends 67% Cabernet Sauvignon with 33% Merlot. Drink from 2025–2060.

The 2005 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is still stunning, with an incredible bouquet of ripe currants, spicy herbs, tobacco, and smoke, with a kiss of savory flowers in the background. Rich, full-bodied, and powerful on the palate, it has nicely integrated tannins, a layered mouthfeel, and awesome length on the finish. It's just now at the early stages of its prime drinking window and has another 30 years or so of prime drinking.

A regal bouquet: ripe Cabernet, dried noble herbs, with a hint of bitter almond or marzipan. A refined palate, warm fruity notes of clear ripeness yet not over-ripeness, fine astringency, noble— a “Beauté.”

66.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33.5% Merlot. Extremely dark color, dense with purple highlights. Rich, extremely layered bouquet: cedar, ripe berries, black cherries, licorice and plenty of fine woods. Complex, perfectly structured palate, lots of finesse in the ripe, almost silky tannins; elegance and richness blended in perfect harmony; finish with light malt, tobacco, black tea and again a fascinating play of precious wood. The greatest Ducru Beaucaillou since I’ve been tasting it from barrel. (19/20). 08: Dark, firm garnet, dense at the core. Warm, expansive plum bouquet, dark woods, fermented tea, smoke, licorice and the typical cedar note of a great St. Julien. Complex, expansive palate, ripe tannins and again a beautiful Cabernet warmth, malt notes, showing fine breed at the core, brilliant length. A sublime yet somehow discreet Ducru. Somehow the feminine counterpart to the more classical 2006! (19/20). 09: Regal bouquet, ripe Cabernet, dried noble herbs, a hint of bitter almond, i.e., marzipan. Fine palate, warm fruit notes showing clear ripeness but not over-ripeness, fine astringency, noble and a “Beauté.” (19/20). 12: Very dark wine-red with plenty of garnet highlights. The bouquet is either restrained or discreet, which is somehow logical for a wine at this interim stage. What reaches the nose is subtle and very elegant. On the palate perfectly shaped; the acidity is ripe; the tannins are gentle and balance the fine astringency perfectly; on the finish come herbs and plenty of black-berried Cabernet. If the 2009 might be a bit too loud as a Ducru, this 2005 has exactly the ideal proportions and the maximum of the desired typicity. It has what it takes to gain that last point by the time it reaches maturity. In a few years it will begin to open, cautiously, for the first time!

Dense, complex, elegant bouquet with cassis, black currant, fine woods and incense. Dense, multi-layered, elegant palate with a tight structure and very good aromatics. Very long, full finish. 19/20 2014 - 2035

Fully ripe red cherry, cassis and blackberry fruits, with exotic turmeric and clove spice notes. Plenty of supple texture across the palate, with softened tannins and St-Julien balance. Higher Merlot content than you would find in the wine today; this is a 2005 with hints of tertiary truffles, saffron and oyster shell, finessed and welcoming. Harvest September 21 to October 6. 100% new oak. Eric and Jacques Boissenot consultants.

The 2005 Ducru-Beaucaillou, 63% Cabernet Sauvignon and 37% Merlot, is deep garnet in color with a touch of brick. It needs a fair bit of shaking before it erupts with the most spectacular perfume of kirsch, warm cassis, rose oil, and licorice, followed by hints of unsmoked cigars, crushed rocks, and fragrant soil. The medium to full-bodied palate has a firm, grainy texture and compelling tension, beautifully framing the red and black fruit layers, and finishing with a firework display of floral and mineral notes.

Deep, with extraordinary textural charm, a brilliant example of this superb vintage. Immense future.

Very youthful on the nose, with still very fresh fruit and a touch of noble élevage, this 2005 is a wine of immense pedigree. The palate combines silkiness and density, with polished tannins.

The 2005 vintage reveals itself with serenity and confidence. It shows fine nuances of cocoa, lightly toasted bread, peppermint, and cigar box. The wine shines with its subtlety and its ability to create a symbiosis between power and delicacy. Thus, the very fine tannins display incredible power, tied to the freshness and the tension provided by the acidity, which acts like a conductor to deliver a (phil)harmonic whole! A wine that is just beginning to relax… after all, it’s barely 17 years old, an adolescent, yet it has learned to behave with elegance and serenity.

Logo on the cork: inverted T (Trescases) Dark color, of normal intensity and more evolved than GPL. Vague nose, smelling of wet wool. The attack on the palate shows Merlot character (which the evolved color supports). The wine develops with fruity, smooth notes, medium body, and a finish with oak that is a bit too pronounced.

94-96 Barrel sample. Huge blackcurrant fruits dominate a wine that is powerful and showing very ripe. There are flavors of smoky, balanced tannins, bitter cherries, black figs. As all the great wines in 2005, it finishes with a delicious lift of acidity.