Calibration Cabernet: Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 2008

March 25, 2014

Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 2008 (Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France)
13%, Cork, circa $300


I’m calling this is a recalibration wine, just to remind what a super second like Ducru could do in a tricky vintage like 2008.

It all starts with deepset oak and a fudgey richness – loads of oak and extract. Quality, coffeed oak, but loads of it none the same. Serious oak even. There’s some of the classic St Julien cedar, but also the headiness and bitumen of the warm vintage, with just a little desiccation.

In contrast, the palate starts classically, fine and refreshingly tannic, but it gets warmer and less perfect as it goes along – the hot vintage corrupting the Bordeaux structures. Still, those long, powdery tannins, the endless finish – it’s all top of the tree stuff, if not quite as perfect as it could be in a truly great vintage..

Personally, I don’t love this and don’t think I could drink it anytime soon. Yet you can’t help admire it and score it appropriately.

Source: Tasting
Drink: 2014-2030
18.5/20, 94/100
Would I buy it? No. But I can admire it.
Buy online: Dan Murphys, Wine Searcher


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  • About me – Andrew Graham


    At 18, I started working in a small suburban bottleshop, largely to buy cheap beer. It was my first year of university, slogging through physics and chemistry, so a liquor shop seemed like fun. Needless to say, I discovered wine, and my life evolved with a unique dual focus - wine and environment.

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