Château Ducru-Beaucaillou vertical tasting: 1953-2018

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou belongs to the hallowed ranks of the so-called Bordeaux Super Seconds, and Bruno Borie – its family owner and director – held a spectacular vertical tasting with the announced objective being to gain an understanding of how both the wines and their style have evolved over the years at this elite estate.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Ducru-Beaucaillou’s international reputation is embodied as much by its prestigious wine production as the château’s landmark array of flags – representing some two dozen countries around the world – that flutter in the breezes from the nearby Gironde estuary.

Borie is known for adding a touch of theatricality during the en primeur campaign every year, and he structured this tasting as four acts composed of thirteen flights, presenting thirty-nine vintages.

It would take a whole book to tell properly the history of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, but a turning point was the arrival of the Borie family in 1942 after Francis Borie (grandfather of Bruno) took charge of the estate by means of a leasing contract leading to future ownership, a status known in France as fermage viager.

The Ducru transformation

For me, this impressive vertical transcribes marvellously in liquid form not only the history of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou itself, but also that of Bordeaux wines and their evolution over the same decades, as fashionable trends and tastes changed.

It is possible to divide this period of change into three distinct parts.

From 1953 to 1982, it was the era during which Emile Peynaud, a major figure of modern oenology, played a leading role as consultant to Francis Borie and then to Jean-Eugène Borie (Bruno’s father).

The goal was to produce riper but also more balanced wines with a capacity for ageing, and to do so Peynaud implemented an approach that was considered game-changing for the whole Médoc region.

Unfortunately, some of the wines produced at the end of this Peynaud period are tainted by TCA, the dreaded molecule that can be present in corks but also in the wooden beams of technical facilities, as was then the case at Ducru-Beaucaillou, which was unknowingly infected. Nevertheless, this was a crucial, groundbreaking era at the estate.

From 1982 to 2000 was the era when the expanding wine market was accompanied – even boosted – by the rise of influential wine critics.

To a large degree, the priority in Bordeaux seemed to become not so much about making the best wine possible as to obtain the highest critical score possible, especially from Robert Parker, about whom the American magazine The Atlantic made the observation that ‘the most influential critic in the world today happens to be a critic of wine.’

Some producers went so far as to seek a more opulent style that they hoped would garner higher scores by increasing the degree of grape ripeness and the percentage of new oak for barrel ageing. All of Bordeaux felt the impact of this trend, even those producers who did not succumb to the temptation.

Ducru-Beaucaillou was no exception. Unfortunately, it is difficult to judge its disappointing wines of Bordeaux’s celebrated trio of vintages – 1988,1989 and1990 – as most bottles were affected by the dreaded TCA taint mentioned above.

There are, however, remarkable wines from the period of 1995 to 2000 after the conditions for contamination were eradicated by the building of new winemaking facilities, replacing the barrels, and making a more careful selection of corks.

The modern day

Lastly comes the contemporary period beginning in 2003, when Bruno Borie took charge of the estate and further restored the lustre of Ducru-Beaucaillou’s reputation, especially with the vintages from 2007 to 2009 that raised the standards of excellence even higher.

Borie was determined to push the boundaries of quality and produce great wines, not only with even more depth of character and clearer terroir expression, but also silkier tannins than in the past.

To achieve his goal, he restructured the vineyard to calibrate a better match between grape varieties and soil types. Borie also lowered yields while gauging optimal levels of grape ripeness, fine-tuning the whole approach as part of his uncompromising quest to achieve the highest quality possible.

Without a doubt, Ducru-Beaucaillou was soon back among the happy few of elite Bordeaux wines.

See tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Buy tickets to the Château Ducru-Beaucaillou masterclass at DFWE London

Remembering Clive Coates MW, an authority on Burgundy and Bordeaux

Price key as top wines set for La Place de Bordeaux release – Liv-ex

Explore More

Bordeaux native Yohan Castaing is a freelance journalist, based in France. He reviews wines from the Loire, Languedoc, Roussillon, Provence, southwest France and Champagne houses for The Wine Advocate. He founded Anthocyanes, a French wine guide, and Velvety Tannins, a guide to the wines of the Rhône Valley. He also writes for wine publications including Gault&Millau and Jancis Robinson. Castaing has held a variety of positions in the wine industry such as wine buyer and marketing director. He was a wine marketing consultant and the author of several books about wine marketing and wine tourism before, in 2011, he became a full-time freelance wine journalist focusing on the industry and wine reviews.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

The Ducru transformation

The modern day

See tasting notes and scores for 38 vintages of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Related content

Buy tickets to the Château Ducru-Beaucaillou masterclass at DFWE London

Remembering Clive Coates MW, an authority on Burgundy and Bordeaux

Price key as top wines set for La Place de Bordeaux release – Liv-ex

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2018

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2017

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2016

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2015

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2014

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2013

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2012

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2011

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2010

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2009

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2008

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2007

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2006

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2005

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2004

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2003

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2001

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 2000

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1999

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1998

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1996

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1995

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1990

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1989

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1988

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1986

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1985

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1982

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1979

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1978

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1975

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1971

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1970

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1966

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1962

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1961

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1959

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1953