2000 - Ducru-Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien

This was a firm and muscular wine in its youth, and it is just now really approaching its sweet spot, filled with baking spices, liquorice root, saffron, and the beginnings of a more tertiary blackcurrant puree, tobacco leaf, cigar box and mint. Give it a few hours in a carafe to fully open up. Bruno Borie owner, returning to the family estate in 1998.

A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, the 2000 Ducru-Beaucaillou is deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It swans out of the glass with gregarious, mature notes of cigar box, new leather, potpourri, and dried bay leaves, leading to a core of prunes, dried cherries, and fragrant soil, plus a touch of iron ore. The medium-bodied palate has compelling freshness and soft, silt-like tannins supporting the evolved black fruit and mineral layers, finishing long and graceful.

Composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, the medium to deep garnet-brick colored 2000 Ducru-Beaucaillou charges out of the gate with flamboyant scents of baked black currants, raisin cake, prunes, Chinese five spice and eucalyptus plus touches of cigar box, new leather and cast iron pan. Medium-bodied, the palate is remarkably refreshing with all these decadent spice and dried berries layers coating the palate, textured by soft, powdery tannins, finishing long and mineral laced. Stunning!

The 2000 Ducru-Beaucaillou is very deep in colour. Surprisingly, the nose is very backward in this example with quite intense black cherries, boysenberry, prune and fig aromas, gaining clarity and vigour with aeration (serious decanting is advised for this millennial.) The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins. Stocky, but not muscular, this has a firm backbone, grainy tannins, liquorice-tinged black fruit with a grippy, almost menthol finish. I adored this wine a decade ago, but ten years on, has it really evolved as well as other vintages? Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the château.

Deep blackish ruby. Pale rim. Gentle, evolved nose reminiscent of dunked digestive biscuits. Spicy top note. Mouth-filling and lovely to drink now. Long and flattering. Gentle. Not the attack of the wines of the Bruno Borie era. Tiny hint of brett? On the way down. (JR)