First Wine Reviews — Christmas Extravaganza — Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 1982 and 2015
First Wine Reviews — Christmas Extravaganza — Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 1982 and 2015
by akv5599
4 Comments
akv5599
Hello, wine people, and happy holidays! Longtime cocktail, whiskey, and rum drinker here who has been getting into wine over the last few years. Sharing my impressions of our attempt at a decadent Christmas with my first ever offerings from Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, which will be the highest-classified and most expensive Bordeaux of my journey so far. The earlier vintage will also be the first non-fortified wine I have ever had with more than twenty years of bottle age!
1982: obtained at auction for $285, provenance unknown… 2015: obtained at Total Wine for $250, in part to maintain Grand Reserve status? Sshhhh….
The 2015 was double-decanted over six hours, as much as out of convenience around the day’s plans as any attempt to be egregiously pretentious. Notes are from the end of that period; even at hour three, my fiancée described the beast as “lurking and scheming.” The 1982 was consumed over a period of less than an hour after a horrendous Ah-So demonstration that ended with the full, intact cork floating in the bottle like a lonely model of a pirate ship. Both wines were drunk alongside an appetizer of aged comté cheese, with star-of-the-night Beef Wellington at the main course accompanied by mediocre creamed spinach.
2015 **Appearance:** dark, pitch garnet… **Nose:** spectacular; big dark red fruit, lavender, hibiscus, honeysuckle, candied ginger, cakebread… **Palate:** supple, velvet-like; most notes strangely high on the palate; dark red fruit, cherry, plum; lots and lots of acidity; huge, wide tannins; faint chocolate; thyme, fennel… **Finish:** long, high-alcohol, as angular as the rest of the wine…
This strikes me as much too young for this great vintage. The acidity, alcohol, and tannins are all disjointed and fighting each other. That said, the power is evident, and if the nose is any indication, amazing things are ahead. >96p potential easily.
Score: 91/100 Fiancée score: 90/100
1982 **Appearance:** blood red in a certain light, appropriately burnt copper on the rim… **Nose:** stewed black fruit, faint hazelnut, licorice… **Palate:** more silk than velvet; light body, almost no alcohol; raisin, blackberry, black pepper, walnut, brioche, mushroom, birch wood; soft, minimally assertive, almost polite; despite restraint, possessed of a reassuring density… **Finish:** soft, sweet, pleasantly distracted…
Do I have any clue what to write about a wine this old? Not really, but here goes: it’s calm, restrained, and not quite as complex or elegant as I expected given the legend around the vintage. Maybe my palate isn’t there yet to properly judge tertiary characteristics, or maybe this particular bottle is a bit over-the-hill. I would love the more experienced among you to weigh in on your prior escapades with such wines! Either way, this is more enjoyable on the current night than the 2015.
Score: 93/100 Fiancée score: 95/100
We have saved some of the 2015 for a second day. Best wine of the night: 2009 Julien Labet Côtes du Jura “Chercheurs d’or” vin de paille, enjoyed with hazelnut financiers and apricot compôte for dessert, 98 and 99/100.
Disastrous_Square_10
Very cool comparative. Love the notes. Always loved ducru.
jzRR
Awesome notes and good bit of fun storytelling there.
4 Comments
Hello, wine people, and happy holidays! Longtime cocktail, whiskey, and rum drinker here who has been getting into wine over the last few years. Sharing my impressions of our attempt at a decadent Christmas with my first ever offerings from Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, which will be the highest-classified and most expensive Bordeaux of my journey so far. The earlier vintage will also be the first non-fortified wine I have ever had with more than twenty years of bottle age!
1982: obtained at auction for $285, provenance unknown…
2015: obtained at Total Wine for $250, in part to maintain Grand Reserve status? Sshhhh….
The 2015 was double-decanted over six hours, as much as out of convenience around the day’s plans as any attempt to be egregiously pretentious. Notes are from the end of that period; even at hour three, my fiancée described the beast as “lurking and scheming.” The 1982 was consumed over a period of less than an hour after a horrendous Ah-So demonstration that ended with the full, intact cork floating in the bottle like a lonely model of a pirate ship. Both wines were drunk alongside an appetizer of aged comté cheese, with star-of-the-night Beef Wellington at the main course accompanied by mediocre creamed spinach.
2015
**Appearance:** dark, pitch garnet…
**Nose:** spectacular; big dark red fruit, lavender, hibiscus, honeysuckle, candied ginger, cakebread…
**Palate:** supple, velvet-like; most notes strangely high on the palate; dark red fruit, cherry, plum; lots and lots of acidity; huge, wide tannins; faint chocolate; thyme, fennel…
**Finish:** long, high-alcohol, as angular as the rest of the wine…
This strikes me as much too young for this great vintage. The acidity, alcohol, and tannins are all disjointed and fighting each other. That said, the power is evident, and if the nose is any indication, amazing things are ahead. >96p potential easily.
Score: 91/100
Fiancée score: 90/100
1982
**Appearance:** blood red in a certain light, appropriately burnt copper on the rim…
**Nose:** stewed black fruit, faint hazelnut, licorice…
**Palate:** more silk than velvet; light body, almost no alcohol; raisin, blackberry, black pepper, walnut, brioche, mushroom, birch wood; soft, minimally assertive, almost polite; despite restraint, possessed of a reassuring density…
**Finish:** soft, sweet, pleasantly distracted…
Do I have any clue what to write about a wine this old? Not really, but here goes: it’s calm, restrained, and not quite as complex or elegant as I expected given the legend around the vintage. Maybe my palate isn’t there yet to properly judge tertiary characteristics, or maybe this particular bottle is a bit over-the-hill. I would love the more experienced among you to weigh in on your prior escapades with such wines! Either way, this is more enjoyable on the current night than the 2015.
Score: 93/100
Fiancée score: 95/100
We have saved some of the 2015 for a second day. Best wine of the night: 2009 Julien Labet Côtes du Jura “Chercheurs d’or” vin de paille, enjoyed with hazelnut financiers and apricot compôte for dessert, 98 and 99/100.
Very cool comparative. Love the notes. Always loved ducru.
Awesome notes and good bit of fun storytelling there.
I can dig it.