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2020 Ducru-Beaucaillou "Croix de Beaucaillou," St-Julien

2020 Ducru-Beaucaillou "Croix de Beaucaillou," St-Julien

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95JA
95JS
94JD
92DC
$59.99

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Availability by location

Hollywood: 12 | Redwood City: 12 | Main Warehouse: 12 | San Francisco: 12 | Culver City: 12

95

Jane Anson

Reviewed April 2021
So much purity and definition, this is a beautiful wine with clarity of flavour. Touches of grilled almond and rosemary, mocha, smoke and coffee bean, there is so much freshness, with juice rushing in between the muscles and a mint leaf finish. 3.78pH, 60% new oak. Yields were 25-30hl/ha. In a year where second wines in the Médoc have sometimes suffered from over-concentration, La Croix de Beaucaillou is a standout success. (for Decanter)

Professional Reviews

95

James Suckling

Review Date: 03/2023
Aromas of currants, orange peel and dried flowers. Minerals. Medium to full body, fine and lightly chewy tannins, and a long and linear finish. Hints of salt. Crushed stone. Flavorful and bright. A little closed. Needs time to open. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 44% merlot, and 3% petit verdot.

94

Jeb Dunnuck

Review Date: 03/2023
The second wine of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou matches many châteaux's Grand Vins. Their 2020 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou (52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot) reveals a dense purple hue as well as full-bodied array of cassis, graphite, liquid violets, and tobacco. It has tons of minerality, a stacked mid-palate, and ripe tannins. Give bottles 2-4 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following two decades.

92

Decanter

Review Date: 01/2023
Really perfumed, lovely rose and violet notes on the nose, floral, aromatic and expressive. Supple, round and quite tense, this has a buzzy energy to it, a little lean and spiced right now, some coarse, grippy tannins, but nice vertical layering. Well framed with clear power but well controlled with freshness and succulence to the blackcurrant and blueberry fruits. (GH)

Staff Reviews

SL
Simon Li

Simon Li

Review Date: 07/2025
Beautifully inky in color, it kicks off with rich black plum and blackberry on the nose, overlaid with graphite, crushed stone minerality, violet florals, and a whisper of tobacco leaf. It’s full-bodied with intense fruit concentration, plush mid-palate energy, and fine-grained, ripe tannins that give it a velvety yet powerful grip. On the palate, expect layers of cocoa, roasted almond, and dusty minerality, all held together by a saline, linear backbone. The finish is long and precise, echoing dark fruit, smoke, and a fresh mint-kissed lift. Though approachable now with decanting, its tannic structure suggests it shines better with a few more years in the cellar.
AH
Aaron Hughes

Aaron Hughes

Review Date: 07/2025
While some wines taste young for their age, this one really turns it around the other way, tasting far older than it is, in a really good way. The nose at first open shines with a little oil cured olive, but after some time to open up there's still that olive, but also a loamy mushroom, and some welcome pyrazines. There's some really soft and ripe red and black fruit, along with just a pleasant little hint of the barn. This just smells like it's going to taste structured, there's an elegance to it that surprised me at first, along with tertiary notes not often found in wine just a few years old. The palate is a little dusty both from the barn and from the tannins. The fruit is brighter than I expected, with a tart cherry, cranberry, violets, and then a lingering earthy finish. This has a lot going for it, and tastes like it has about 5-10 more years of age on it than it does. I would highly recommend this for anyone who thinks I must be goofy and wants to prove me wrong, or anyone who believes me and wants to get a really nice, structured, and tertiary showing Bordeaux for $45.

Notes

Notes from William Kelley for Wine Advocate: "With its optimally situated gravel soils on the bank of the Gironde around its grand 19th-century château, Ducru-Beaucaillou can boast one of the finest terroirs of the entire Médoc. Planted at a density of 10,000 vines per hectare and farmed organically since 2018, with high canopies and seasonal cover crops, the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon is increasing at the expense of Merlot. Macerations are classical, followed by élevage in long-seasoned new oak barrels, and only around one-third of the estate's Saint-Julien production makes it into the grand vin. Proprietor Bruno Borie envisages Ducru as something of a Renaissance villa, with its vegetable garden and livestock raised on site as well as viticulture, and he lives on the property. But Borie's vision is also modern, with an in-house research-and-development department." (4/2023)

Details

TypeRed Wine
VarietalCabernet Sauvignon and Blends
OriginSaint Julien, Bordeaux, France
Bottle Size750 mL
SKU1689441