Region: Bordeaux, France

Vintage: 2020

Composition: Cabernet Sauvignon

History: Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is a well-regarded wine estate in the Saint-Julien appellation of Bordeaux’s Haut-Médoc wine region, on the so-called “left bank” of the Gironde estuary. The estate and its eponymous grand vin (the estate’s principle wine) was rated a second growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification.

Tasting Notes: Evocative and moreish, a Ducru that beguiles and delights from the start with a scented nose full of cedar, rose, violets, cherries and damsons – a riot of Cabernet typicity. Vibrant and pulsing on the palate, this has grip and intention from the get-go. Massy, full and wide in the mouth – there’s density and this is broad but it’s delicate too – a sense of weightlessness with such movement and energy and a soft sweet, succulent grip throughout. Powerful with present tannins that unravel slowly so there’s time to appreciate the details as they come.