Alex Shaw, JJ Buckley, April 2011

90% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot. Aged for 18 months in 95% new French oak barrels, other 5% of barrels are one year old. Lower yields (down by about 20%) have led to increased concentration compared to previous vintages. Harvest started with merlot on Sep 29 and ended with Cabernet on Oct 14. 13.95% alcohol. Aromas of black fruit burst from the glass, complemented by notes of wild herbs and a touch of spice. Extremely captivating on the nose, I kept swirling the wine while marveling at the complexity of aromas. On the palate, the wine is lush, complex and incredibly well structured even at this youthful stage. The bright acidity brought on by a cooler but sunny growing season is evident on the palate, keeping the wine lively on the palate even while dark purple fruits dominate. The tannins are amazing, lush and well-integrated, providing the wine with tremendous length and grip. Lingers on the palate. This is a muscular, impressive release from Ducru. Drink from 2020-2040.

100 points,

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com, February 2013

The nose is phenomenal with perfect aromas of Cabernet Sauvignon with currant bush, blackberries and minerals. A pure expression of Cab. The palate is perfect with a full body, but has perfectly integrated tannins with a texture like the finest cashmere. It's strong but noble with perfect form and beauty. All in harmony. A fabulous wine that everyone who loves Bordeaux should have a bottle or case of. Better in 2020.

Jancis Robinson, April 2011

90% Cabernet Sauvignon. Same analysis as last year but very different from the 2009 - indeed very different from all recent vintages of Ducru - a return to something drier and more classical. It's all about the quality of tannins, according to Bruno Borie. Very firm and solid and confident - all from terroir. You could stick a spoon up in it, but in a good way. Drier and more grown-up than in some previous years. Very long term. Perfect for those who seek something really serious. 18 out of 20.

96 -98 points,

Jeff Leve, TheWineCellarInsider.com, April 2011

Ducru Beaucaillou Produced from a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, the wine reached 13.95% alcohol. Inky purple in color, cassis, truffle, cedar, spice, oak, mocha and fennel aromas are found with little coaxing. Polished, powerful, long, fresh, pure and clean, the layers of chocolate covered black cherries resonate in the finish. This regal wine remains on your palate for close to 50 seconds. The wine will be aged in 95% new oak for 18 months.

98 points,

Neal Martin's Wine Journal, November 2012

The Ducru-Beaucaillou 2010 has a marvellous, intense bouquet that is more cerebral than the 2009, which served everything on a plate and invited you to delve in. It is extremely well defined with blackcurrant, cedar, wild heather and cassis bringing up the rear. It is very composed and focused, unwinding over three or four minutes of aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe and velvety tannins that lend it a gorgeous mouthfeel. To reiterate, this Ducru Beaucaillou really benefits from aeration and this bottle was decanted upon my request, but even so, it is a well-behaved wine that politely refuses to fan out on the disciplined finish. This will be a long-lived Ducru - there is a dizzy sense of weight and persistency with a long aftertaste. Bruno analogises his 2010 to Charlize Theron, in which case, it deserves an Oscar.

98 points,

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, March 2013

With loads of minerality, a terrific opaque purple color, and slightly more structure and tannin than either Poyferre or St.-Pierre (and that's saying something), this is a blockbuster, fabulous Ducru Beaucaillou that should be at its best a good decade from now and last 40-50 years. The proprietor is not alone in thinking this is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou since the 1961. The classic wet rock, creme de cassis, subtle oak and gravelly stoniness of the vineyard come through in this spectacular, full-bodied, gorgeously pure and intense effort. This is wine for the ages that should be forgotten for at least a decade. 98+

93 -97 points,

Stephen Tanzer's IWC, May 2011

(90% cabernet sauvignon with 10% merlot; 3.62 pH; 95% new oak; 14% alcohol) Deep ruby-red. Lovely perfume of raspberry, blackcurrant and gunflint, made more complex by vanilla and sexy spices. Dense, sweet and rich, with a fine-grained texture to the flavors of cassis and exotic dried herbs. Huge, powerful, solidly structured wine with a firm but harmonious acid spine, impeccable balance and great depth of flavor; as massive as it is, it comes across as precise and light on its feet. Finishes with peppery tannins, excellent length and outstanding freshness. Less than 10,000 cases were made due to the strict selection for the grand vin, and it shows in the high quality of the second and third wines made here. Drink from 2020 to 2050.

96 points,

Wine Enthusiast, May 2013

A grand wine, it has great ripeness and richness, majestic in its structure and upright character. It is concentrated, perfumed and opulent. The style of Ducru Beaucaillou is both generous and powerful, and obviously ageworthy. -R.V.

97 points,

Wine Spectator, March 2013

Not shy at all, with a flamboyant, aromatic profile of roasted apple wood and warm ganache, featuring more than enough stuffing in the form of thickly layered blackberry paste, steeped fig and pastis-soaked plum flavors. The structure is massive but incredibly polished, and the fruit displays terrific purity through the graphite-supported finish. Large-scale and extremely well-rendered. Best from 2020 through 2040. -JM

About Winery

Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou is named after the beautiful, large stones found in its unique wine-growing terroir. This exceptional ecosystem produces fine, elegant, tasty wines, with a long finish - in short, archetypal Saint-Julien wines.
 
Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the centre of a hundred-year-old park, Ducru-Beaucaillou is a majestic, Victorian-style castle, which has, over time, become one of the great symbols of the Médoc. Unusually for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years, in the sumptuous aromas of their wine.

Today, the estate is managed by the company Jean Eugène Borie SA, which is owned by Mrs Borie, her daughter Sabine Coiffe and her son Bruno-Eugène, CEO since 2003, the third generation of the Borie family to head the estate.
 
There are very close links between this estate and the five families who have been its successive owners.

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