2025 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien 6-Pack OWC
Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou is one of the most iconic estates in Saint-Julien, it consistently produces wines that rival the First Growths in quality and prestige. The estate’s name is derived from its "beautiful stones" (beaux cailloux), the large quartz pebbles found throughout its vineyards that provide excellent drainage and reflect heat to the vines.
This release is a monumental wine that perfectly balances the ripeness of 2025 with Beaucaillou’s signature elegance. Concentrated on the palate with cassis and black cherries it retains a precision making the wine feel lighter on its feet. Graphite and pencil shavings with some lifted spice notes lead to a long finish. Another Chateau with a couple of possible 100pt scores, WA98-100, VN98-100, this is one to add to your collection.
Decanter
Such a vivid and vibrant colour in the glass with a bright pink rim. Ripe almost heady aromatics – perfumed bramble fruits with a dried floral aspect and dark chocolate. Ripe and massy in the mouth, not as sexy and smooth as Ducru can be, this is more grainy and a little grippy with the tannins and structure clearly on show and dark fruit in the background. Serious, sultry even, with oak on show – liquorice and clove spice. The aromatic display is quite incredible, certainly full of intensity but this hasn't settled yet. Mouthwatering acidity, great tannin structure, there’s a lot going on with this wine. Ends cool and fresh and lifted. I love the intensity, quite unlike many other wines this vintage – this is built like a racehorse, muscular and filling but chewy and soft too. I love the personality and think this wine has a long life ahead. There’s purity, clarity and gloss. 3.74pH. A yield of 22hl/ha. Harvest 2–23 September.
Jeb Dunnuck
Deep purple-hued and completely opaque, the blockbuster 2025 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou checks in as 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot, all resting in 100% new barrels. The nose is rich and concentrated, with pure crème de cassis, graphite, ripe black cherries, spicy wood, and freshly sharpened pencil-driven aromatics. On the palate, it's full-bodied, with a dense, concentrated mid-palate, ripe, building tannins, and a great finish. It checks in at 13.44% alcohol with a pH of 3.8. This structured, pure, and incredibly precise Ducru reminds me slightly of the 2010, with perhaps a touch more finesse
Vinous
The 2025 Ducru-Beaucaillou is fabulous. Vibrant red/purplish fruit, rose petal, lavender, mint and blood orange are all beautifully sculpted. The purity of the fruit is just remarkable. New oak is 100%, but lower toast levels and a more dialed-in approach here are palpable. Gorgeous floral and savory Cabernet top notes lift the finish. Superb, and one of the highlights of the year, Ducru is absolutely stunning in 2025.
James Suckling
The intensity is very impressive on the nose, with black currants, raspberries and graphite. Medium- to full-bodied with a powerful structure of steely tannins that are polished and long. Turns fluid, fine and chewy at the end. Wait and see. A blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon and 21% merlot.