WTN: 1996 Ducru-Beaucaillou

This property has been reviewed to death, so nobody needs my opinion of its characteristics, except I will offer the one most unique characteristic to my taste. Ducru-Beaucaillou is the only wine I know that shows up as magic, and my 1996 of a couple of nights ago did not disappoint in this regard. I know such descriptors are anathema to most serious wine connoisseurs because they (referring to the descriptors) "don't mean anything." But that's what I get. And it is beautiful now but has a long, long way to go, and will probably develop even more occult expressions ten, twenty or thirty years hence.

Diane, I will not drink my last one until I am sure we will never connect so that I can share it with you.

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought a '96 Ducru would have come around "so soon"! Their wines from the late '70s, and I think, the mid-'80s, were always very structured and hard. I'll have to look up what Parker says in his Bordeaux book, maybe the style has become more "user-friendly" in the past decade....

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought a '96 Ducru would have come around "so soon"! Their wines from the late '70s, and I think, the mid-'80s, were always very structured and hard. I'll have to look up what Parker says in his Bordeaux book, maybe the style has become more "user-friendly" in the past decade....

I just looked: He said 2008 through 2035. It is definitely very young and a bit backward, but not stridently tannic; in fact it was easy to drink. I wouldn't have tried one if I didn't have others, and I will wait perhaps another five years before opening a second bottle. When I opened two 1995 Chateau Margaux recently (the second one to see if the first was somehow not representative) and found them both to be plenty mature, with even with a hint of tea, I decided to try a couple of other supposedly long agers I have been keeping more than one or two of just to make sure the bunch was not passing me by.

Since you are interested in this wine, I will tell you that some of the evolved flavor/aromas I detected were forest wood, and other wood, lead pencil and sweet butterscotch. The Cabernet Sauvignon taste in the mid-palate was what I would consider as classy as it gets and very rich. A really lovely bottle.

I get the impression, from what I've read, that Bordeaux has been riper and more foward since the mid-90s anyway, though I haven't opened any from this period myself yet! Some '70s and '78s are still hard and "not ready"!!

Most of the good 96s are not really ready to drink. It's a vintage that reminds many of the 75s that just came around a few short years ago. The Ducru will be much better in 5 to 10 more years. IMHO and many Bordeaux experts & lovers.

I get the impression, from what I've read, that Bordeaux has been riper and more foward since the mid-90s anyway, though I haven't opened any from this period myself yet! Some '70s and '78s are still hard and "not ready"!!

The entire decade of the 70s was pretty tough for Bordeaux, and really tough for the Haut-Medoc. Some thin vintages, some so tannic as to think they might never come around (75). The problem was always whether the wines would soften their hard shells before all the fruit was stripped out. I liked the '76 and the '79 vintages of Ducru-Beaucaillou myself. Most of the '75s I gave up on.

Hoke,

What is interesting is that the style of winemaking, in general, seems to have been so different in the past. For instance, a vintage like 1970 had "perfect" weather, according to every writer, yet some of the wines, like the Mouton, are still "not quite ready"!! So only the winemaking can be "blamed" for the results (and maybe in another 10 years the wines will be terrific classics!?).

I get the impression, from what I've read, that Bordeaux has been riper and more foward since the mid-90s anyway, though I haven't opened any from this period myself yet! Some '70s and '78s are still hard and "not ready"!!

The entire decade of the 70s was pretty tough for Bordeaux, and really tough for the Haut-Medoc. Some thin vintages, some so tannic as to think they might never come around (75). The problem was always whether the wines would soften their hard shells before all the fruit was stripped out. I liked the '76 and the '79 vintages of Ducru-Beaucaillou myself. Most of the '75s I gave up on.

i think I may have a bottle of either Leoville LL or Pichon LL 75 still in my cellar for curiosity. Next time you're around we'll have to check it out in the name of science.

I get the impression, from what I've read, that Bordeaux has been riper and more foward since the mid-90s anyway, though I haven't opened any from this period myself yet! Some '70s and '78s are still hard and "not ready"!!

The entire decade of the 70s was pretty tough for Bordeaux, and really tough for the Haut-Medoc. Some thin vintages, some so tannic as to think they might never come around (75). The problem was always whether the wines would soften their hard shells before all the fruit was stripped out. I liked the '76 and the '79 vintages of Ducru-Beaucaillou myself. Most of the '75s I gave up on.

i think I may have a bottle of either Leoville LL or Pichon LL 75 still in my cellar for curiosity. Next time you're around we'll have to check it out in the name of science.

I'm up for that. If it's good, we can both celebrate the fact that we lived long enough for even the '75s to come around!

[David M. Bueker]

Hoke,

What is interesting is that the style of winemaking, in general, seems to have been so different in the past. For instance, a vintage like 1970 had "perfect" weather, according to every writer, yet some of the wines, like the Mouton, are still "not quite ready"!! So only the winemaking can be "blamed" for the results (and maybe in another 10 years the wines will be terrific classics!?).

This is at least one area where I have some significant tasting experience, and I will beg to differ with you on the '70s being "not ready." I've been through the 1st twice (both times blind) and some a 3rd time since 2000, and they are not going to improve one bit. The fruit has gone from Lafite, and Mouton is all about spice box and leather with some underlying black fruit, but not a ton of it. Mouton has consistently shown the best of the 5, with Lafite vying with Margaux for the worst (Haut Brion and Latour are both very nice, but don't have the remaining verve and complexity of the Mouton IMO). The '70 Petrus and '70 Cheval Blanc were absolutely magical a few years ago, while '70 Figeac was fine but fading quickly in the glass. '70 Pichon Lalande (magnum) and '70 Trotanoy were both delicious over the last year while '70 Las Cases had seen better days but was still enjoyable.

Just my 2 cents which back then could get you a bottle or two, but now...

I am reminded of a conversation with Emmanuel Cruse of Chateau D'Issan when he said that they (Bordeaux, and maybe only the left bank) started harvesting based on tannin ripeness in 1994. This requires lab testing and some extrapolation, and probably postpones the harvest 7-10 days, but it was said that if you harvest with unripe tannins they will never ripen, while ripe tannins (i.e. phenolic ripeness) will soften nicely over time. I truly believe that this has made a sea change in the wines from Bordeaux, as we are able to enjoy these wines much sooner and much more consistently.

This property has been reviewed to death, so nobody needs my opinion of its characteristics, except I will offer the one most unique characteristic to my taste. Ducru-Beaucaillou is the only wine I know that shows up as magic, and my 1996 of a couple of nights ago did not disappoint in this regard. I know such descriptors are anathema to most serious wine connoisseurs because they (referring to the descriptors) "don't mean anything." But that's what I get. And it is beautiful now but has a long, long way to go, and will probably develop even more occult expressions ten, twenty or thirty years hence.

Diane, I will not drink my last one until I am sure we will never connect so that I can share it with you.

Covert - I just saw this post, and thought you forgot about me, but then I read your notes. While the wine may have a long, long way to go, I doubt that I will.

David,

It's not that ALL of the 1970s aren't "ready", but a few that I tried last year were surprisingly youthful (and rather hard) yet. The Mouton and Montrose come to mind, as well as the Beausejour Duffau, where the bottle that I had was a monster and only became vaguely drinkable after 8 hours in a carafe! Others, like the Giscours, came around with breathing time, but was a bit rustic. And some others I tried, that I thought might be knock-outs, like Palmer, I can't recall at all, which means to me that they were only "OK", though certainly on the "ready" side. Nothing, though, was OTH and showing decline. The Lafite and Margaux showed mediocrity and dilution, but that is a little different.

One has to wonder about wines like the Lafite and Margaux that you mentioned, which were real underperformers (and in a "perfect" vintage!), though in both cases these properties were in an overall "slump" period. And the LLC that I had was very so-so as well. I haven't had it, but the Ausone is supposed to be thin too. Maybe the winemaking just wasn't as "sharp" back then.

And then, in general, I think in quite a few wines from this era (the '70s) one can see the effects of somewhat unripe tannins (sometimes combined with overenthusiastic extraction! ) that Richard made reference to. But it's not consistent, and you can find some very nice wines from even lesser vintages like '76, and '79. '78, with its very late ripening does bring out the problem, I think, and some properties seem to have harvested a bit too early there.

I did have the Ausone. First Ausone I ever had, actually.

Big disappointment. Put me off Ausone for quite a while. It was surprisingly thin, and weedy, and not impressive at all.

This property has been reviewed to death, so nobody needs my opinion of its characteristics, except I will offer the one most unique characteristic to my taste. Ducru-Beaucaillou is the only wine I know that shows up as magic, and my 1996 of a couple of nights ago did not disappoint in this regard. I know such descriptors are anathema to most serious wine connoisseurs because they (referring to the descriptors) "don't mean anything." But that's what I get. And it is beautiful now but has a long, long way to go, and will probably develop even more occult expressions ten, twenty or thirty years hence.

Diane, I will not drink my last one until I am sure we will never connect so that I can share it with you.

Covert - I just saw this post, and thought you forgot about me, but then I read your notes. While the wine may have a long, long way to go, I doubt that I will.

Diane, I will never forget about you. You are in my top 20 people on earth because of our kindred tastes and association, in that we know each other. I do not associate with or even think about anybody who can not appreciate Bordeaux and fine food. I read about a lot of people in that category, but have communicated with no more than 20.

If at any time you feel that your age might inhibit your enjoyment of the bottle in the near future, tell me and I will just drive down with it. And don't believe any of the blokes on this forum that say that the wine is too young to drink. It is perfectly beautiful right now. Sure it could get better in the future, but it is better than the huge majority of wines already, and plenty fine enough for me; and I know my Bordeaux.

I did have the Ausone. First Ausone I ever had, actually.

Big disappointment. Put me off Ausone for quite a while. It was surprisingly thin, and weedy, and not impressive at all.

Hoke, maybe it is a saving grace defense mechanism (actually I believe it is, but it works), but I am finding that I generally find the great bottles worth hundreds and thousands of dollars to be no better and often inferior to many of the run-of-the-mill Bordeaux, such as Malescot and Cantemerle. My wife and I drank a bottle of 2001 Ferrand Lartigue on Saturday night and enjoyed it as much as any wine we ever opened. I think I paid about $28 for it.

Covert - I am extremely touched by the sentiments in your post, and I thank you for them. I do not see an urgency in drinking the wine with you at this time, although I may feel differently tomorrow, should I experience the pain and stiffness in my aching body from shoveling snow today.

Please continue posting your notes on the beautiful wines of Bordeaux, as I look forward to reading them.

Covert - I am extremely touched by the sentiments in your post, and I thank you for them. I do not see an urgency in drinking the wine with you at this time, although I may feel differently tomorrow, should I experience the pain and stiffness in my aching body from shoveling snow today.

Please continue posting your notes on the beautiful wines of Bordeaux, as I look forward to reading them.

Thanks, Diane, I look forward to your notes, too. I'll try to drink something interesting for New Year's Eve. I'll be at camp without a TV and will need something to sooth my despondency over missing Snooki drop in Times Square.

You are younger than I am, so I will probably wait until I am in my 70s and the wine is mature enough for everybody to agree it won’t get better and then my wife and I will drive to Long Island at a time you can meet up with us for dinner.