1959 Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien
SKU #1027654
John Gilman
The 1959 Château Branaire-Ducru is a good, solid example of the vintage that has no doubt been mature for several decades, but continues to cruise along nicely and remains a very tasty bottle of old claret. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a complex blend of black cherries, a touch of plumminess, cigar smoke, dark chocolate and a nice base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is fullish, plush and still quite solid at the core, with a slightly four-square personality, but still sound structural elements. The finish is long, meltingly tannic and velvety, and though the wine is not as complex as the finest ‘59s, it is still a very good drink.
(3/2017)
Wine Spectator
Medium ruby-garnet, with focused, currant and licorice aromas. Full-bodied and tannic, with peppery, licorice flavor. (JS, web-1990)
K&L Notes
According to The Wine Cellar Insider: "In 1824, the grand chateau that is still in use today was built. It took almost 200 years for the Ducru portion of the wines name to make its way to the label. In 1875, with no direct descendants, Gustave Ducru, a more distant relative took over the Medoc property and added his name to the label, which gave us Chateau Branaire Ducru. Patrick Maroteaux bought Branaire Ducru in 1988 from the Tapie family who owned Chateau Branaire Ducru since 1919. Prior to his arrival at Branaire Ducru, Patrick Maroteaux had no prior experience in the wine business. Since his purchase, Patrick Maroteaux has focused much of his efforts on performing extensive work in the vineyards and in the cellars of Branaire Ducru. He also quickly began reducing the yields. He also increased the size of their vineyards by 10 hectares. Patrick was also interested in modernizing their winemaking techniques." (Web-2022)