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la Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou 2010

Red Wine

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Item# 1597-10

Product Ratings

James Suckling 94pt
Wine Enthusiast 93pt
Wine Spectator 91pt
Vinous Media 92pt

Harvest

The harvest started with the picking of the Merlots on the 29th of September and ended on the 14th of October with that of the last Cabernet Sauvignons. After all the mixed berry-sized clusters (especially the merlots due to poor flowering) were eliminated in the vineyard, only perfect fruit was brought into the cellars. The berries, ideally matured and perfectly wholesome, were famously small, sweet to the extreme, and tasty at will. The skins were firm and very ripe, and the relatively small pips reached a fair level of maturity. The 2010 Ducru-Beaucaillou distinguishes itself from its forebears by an analytical richness never equalled so far at the estate. Although it is as fleshy as its predecessor, it is slightly more stretched and structured. It is above all a high caste wine. Powerfully concentrated, noble and elegant, it is luscious, and endowed with a near infinite persistence. It is a wine that, without ever faltering, accompanies you throughout a tasting entirely dedicated to suavity.

Tasting notes

Color: Profound dark violet robe
Nose: Notes of black fruits with a hint of spices.
Palate: Round and luscious, with an imposing structure, fleshy but nicely buttressed by acidity.
Velvety and suave tannins.
Finish fleshy and impressively persistent.
This wine rebounds constantly during the course of the tasting and seems never inclined to let go. Consider it as a good companion who, without ever faltering, takes you by the hand and walks pleasantly by your side up to the frontiers of the sublime and perhaps even beyond!

Description

The wines of La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou come from the vineyard of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. This exceptional Médoc terroir is situated between the Gironde River to the east, the center and the west of the Saint-Julien appellation. The estate owes its name to its “beautiful pebbles” ("beaux cailloux", in French) which, because of their high quartz content, make for soils that are poor in plant nutrients.

It is precisely this “agrological paucity”, as the late Bordeaux professor and geographer, René Pijassou, described it, that makes them so well-suited to the production of fine wine. In the east, the plots are planted along the rolling Médoc ridges, just above the estuary, while those at the epicentre benefit from a microclimate nurtured by the little La Mouline stream that meanders through the middle of the appellation from west to east before disappearing into the Gironde.

La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is an original expression of the terroirs of Ducru-Beaucaillou, a blend that is one of a kind. Ducru-Beaucaillou’s elitist approach is fully at work here. As is a passion, that of a team dedicated to excellence. A high-flying wine that perfectly expresses its terroir of exception. This wine blends a high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon (around 60% each year), completed with Merlot Noir (35% to 37%) as well as a subtly spicy touch of Petit Verdot (3% to 5%). It is carefully aged for 12 months in barrels of which two-thirds are new each vintage.

Vintage

The growth cycle started favourably under good climatic conditions. The weather during the flowering was mitigated, but the vineyards afterwards benefited from an exceptional summer and a perfect late summer.