2019 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien, France 750ml

A very powerful Ducru with intense tannins and backbone, showing blue fruit, black tea and tobacco. Full-bodied with impressive structure and so much tannin. It goes on for minutes. Very traditional. Owner Bruno Borie said it is a wine to last forever and I have to agree. 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% merlot.

This is brimming with personality, with inky depths to the colour and clear austerity on the opening beats. As it opens, the concententrated cassis and blueberry fruits switch from being stretched taut to a softer creamy texture. Full of precision and skillful blending of liquorice, cigar box and bitter dark chocolate with fresh acidities that hold right through the core of the wine. Signature St Julien elegance but with uncompromising swagger, one of the wines of the vintage. Blends are exactly as they were during En Primeur, with even the press wines added before the En Primeur tastings, and it is delivering on promise. 100% new oak (with the staves unusually seasoned for six years before being made into barrels), 3.8ph. 300th vintage of Ducru