Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Croix de Beaucaillou 2014
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This is an exceptional vintage for La Croix. It has voluptuous fruits that emerge from the ripe dense tannins. They are balanced by intense acidity and a crisp edge. The wine, with its still stylish character, is one to age for a long time. Drink this very fine wine from 2025.
-
James Suckling
Extremely aromatic with crushed-raspberry and plum character. Sweet tobacco, too. Hints of wet earth and dried mushrooms. Medium to full body, silky and racy tannins and an oyster-shell and iodine finish. A beauty. Drink in 2019.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 La Croix de Beaucaillou has enjoyed a purple patch in recent vintages. The nose on the 2014 appeared to have closed down after bottling, but the quality is still tangible, almost sedate, but exquisitely defined tertiary red berry fruit gradually opens in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp and energetic, very focused with superb mineralité. There is just a mote of hardness and rigidity on the finish, but that will be abraded by bottle age (and this is one Deuxième Vin that benefits from bottle maturity).
-
Decanter
Well-concentrated, rich fruit with florality and charm from vineyards in the middle of the appellation. No longer a 'second' wine.
-
Wine Spectator
This unfurls a lovely beam of lush raspberry preserves and cassis, backed by velvety structure. Ends with enticing warm fruitcake and melted red licorice notes. This has a bit of flash and should be approachable on the earlier side. Best from 2019 through 2026.
Other Vintages
2022-
Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
-
Parker
Robert
- Decanter
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James - Vinous
-
Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
-
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
-
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James - Decanter
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James - Decanter
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
-
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
-
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
-
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
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, archetypical Saint-Julien wines.
Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the center 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. Unusual for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years.
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.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An icon of balance and tradition, St. Julien boasts the highest proportion of classed growths in the Médoc. What it lacks in any first growths, it makes up in the rest: five amazing second growth chateaux, two superb third growths and four well-reputed fourth growths. While the actual class rankings set in 1855 (first, second, and so on the fifth) today do not necessarily indicate a score of quality, the classification system is important to understand in the context of Bordeaux history. Today rivalry among the classed chateaux only serves to elevate the appellation overall.
One of its best historically, the estate of Leoville, was the largest in the Médoc in the 18th century, before it was divided into the three second growths known today as Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases, Léoville-Poyferré and Léoville-Barton. Located in the north section, these are stone’s throw from Chateau Latour in Pauillac and share much in common with that well-esteemed estate.
The relatively homogeneous gravelly and rocky top soil on top of clay-limestone subsoil is broken only by a narrow strip of bank on either side of the “jalle,” or stream, that bisects the zone and flows into the Gironde.
St. Julien wines are for those wanting subtlety, balance and consistency in their Bordeaux. Rewarding and persistent, the best among these Bordeaux Blends are full of blueberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco and licorice. They are intense and complex and finish with fine, velvety tannins.