1996 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien, France 750ml

1996 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien, France 750ml

$275.00
$300.00
Vintage
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Region: 
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Pairing
Beef and Venison
Standard Bottle (750 mL) 0 units available

 

Tasting notes
I tasted the 1996 Ducru Beaucaillou on four separate occasions from bottle in January. The 1996 is long, with a deep mid-palate. It also reveals tannin in the finish. This wine is remarkable. It is muscular, concentrated, and classic. Bottled in late June, 1998, it exhibits a saturated ruby/purple color, as well as a knock-out nose of minerals, licorice, cassis, and an unmistakable lead pencil smell that I often associate with top vintages of Lafite-Rothschild. It is sweet and full-bodied, yet unbelievably rich with no sense of heaviness or flabbiness. The wine possesses high tannin, but it is extremely ripe, and the sweetness of the black currant, spice-tinged Cabernet Sauvignon fruit is pronounced. This profound, backward Ducru-Beaucaillou is a must purchase. It will be fascinating for readers who own the 1996 to follow the evolution of this exceptional vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2035.
Bright medium ruby. Deep, superripe aromas of dark berries, black cherry and bitter chocolate; slightly exotic crystallized fruit aspect. Dense, sweet and wonderfully rich; a lovely combination of palate-caressing chocolatey fruit and firm underlying structure. Finishes with excellent grip and great palate-saturating sweetness. Another outstanding 1996 Medoc wine in the making. Drink 2010 through 2030.
Served at the Ducru offline in London. Like many 1996s, this is very ?masculine on the nose? with dark broody fruit, black plum, smoke, cigar box and earth. Then with aeration there is a touch of wild mint and it gains better definition. The palate is medium-bodied, well balanced with black cherry and iodine, much more delineation on the entry than the nose would suggest with wild strawberry, tart cherry and cedar towards the finish. It still comes across as a little overdone, a Ducru that tried to hard in the winery, but it has a nice sense of tension. Fine. Drink now-2030. Tasted September 2009.
Bright medium ruby. Deep, superripe aromas of dark berries, black cherry and bitter chocolate; slightly exotic crystallized fruit aspect. Dense, sweet and wonderfully rich; a lovely combination of palate-caressing chocolatey fruit and firm underlying structure. Finishes with excellent grip and great palate-saturating sweetness. Another outstanding 1996 Medoc wine in the making. Drink 2010 through 2030.