2001 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Community Tasting Notes (166) Avg Score: 91.2 points

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  4/26/2024 - liber Likes this wine: 93 Points

  4th of 12, opened 90 minutes then decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, very much in line with and as noted in detail for last bottle in July 18 if now entering plateau of maturity and I agree with Julian Marshall's excellent Jan note below, a traditional elegant style of Ducru which I love and admire helped of course by wonderful balance, very much an attribute of these 01s, still upside, 20+ years in a vintage which will carry on improving much longer than many of the pundits predicted! At least F+ (18)....incidentally, a comparison with the excellent GPL in this vintage is instructive as to why Ducru in 1855 was ranked 2nd and GPL 5th growth!

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  1/1/2024 - Julian Marshall Likes this wine: 93 Points

  A lovely wine - a floral nose with notes of spring flowers, mingling with red berries, plums and violets, then soft, subtle notes of blackcurrant and cherry in the mouth, a gently rising middle section showing dark raspberry, before a long but crisp finish where the blackcurrant comes to the fore. The most Margalais of Saint Juliens - such effortless class and elegance.
  No hurry to drink this - a good five years left if not more.
  But for all that, this is a very good rather than a great wine and at 137€, not one I'd go back looking for - Brane is half the price and at least as good, if not slightly better.

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  12/6/2023 - Juliansi Likes this wine: 92 Points

  An outstanding effort from Ducru in what I understood to be a erratic weather-pattern season in 2001, the years this has been cellared has been very kind to the claret! Thanks to brother SKT for sharing this with us on a wonderful evening with TC.
  
  Appearance: Garnet edging towards hints of brown, with a 2 to 3mm light rim.
  Blend: 68% Cab, 30% Merlot, 2% CF. Aged for 18 months in French oak (90% new).
  Nose: Smoke, tea, with beautiful tobacco. Little signs of greenness. Truly a classical aged claret.
  
  Palate: Impressive that there was some sweetness of fruit. Blackfruits with hints of raspberry. Love the polished leather notes, which integrated so well with the tea-like tannins. Some secondaries with light smoke notes, and more leather and black pepper too.
  Mouthfeel: Medium bodied.
  
  Acidity: Medium and so balanced.
  Tannins: Fine and resolved, but there was still plenty of energy.
  Finish: Very pleasant, medium-long circa 35 seconds.
  
  This 2001 Ducru is showing very well, as was all our Rhone and Bordeaux wines all evening. Just one of those nights when all our wines... sang! It came across as being so rounded and generous, and much more expressive then the vintage would suggest. However, this showed a lot more restraint compared with modern day post-2003 Bruno-Eugène Borie era Ducrus.
  
  Vintage report:
  The 2001 Bordeaux vintage was very good but just short of great.
  The growing season had unpredictable weather patterns from too cool to too warm with periods of intense rain followed by drought.
  
  The summer rains heavily affected estates in the left bank and some of the wines suffered from dilution.
  Right bank wines overall fared better with St. Emilion and Pomerol, in particular, benefitting from the dry September.
  
  It is generally considered less opulent than the 2000s, and the 2001 wines are described as “more old-fashioned”. This is of course a contrast and dig at others who were going for more "Parker-style" wines.
  
  When comparing left v right bank;
  Right Bank - Harvested under picture perfect conditions.
  Left Bank - Would not fare as well. Medoc experienced unwanted rain.
  
  Come critics described that these rains gave many of the wines from Pauillac, St. Julien, St. Estephe, Margaux and Pessac Leognan a diluted character.
  
  Besides the Right Bank, the star appellation for 2001 Bordeaux wine was in fact... Sauternes.
  
  The team at Ducru obviously made the right decisions back in 2001, as they decided on a relatively late harvest in October due to the irregular weather. I did read about this wine suffering from tricky crumbly corks, hopefully SKT did not have the same experience.
  
  By the end of the evening, I even got a nice whiff of Earl Grey tea. Luscious! Have to say that the pour I saved for Day 2 did not stand up so well, and it was rather lacklustre. Drink up!
  
  6th Dec 2023
  La Sense at Farm to Plate
  Damansara Kim, Malaysia

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  10/29/2023 - Eudemis Likes this wine:

  13% alcohol. The cork breaks 2/3 of the way at the extraction stage. Decanted an hour ahead. Medium deep colour with some thinning and barely the onset of bricking at the edge of the rim.
  Lovely nose with plenty of energy; the remaining fruit is very vivid while the tertiary notes emerge timidly (leather). The mouth has a strict aspect reminiscent of Leo-B, and it is very satisfying in that style. Plenty of grip left even though the tannins are resolved; menthol in the long finish.
  Superb in a classic restrained Médoc way; nothing opulent here but plenty of class and harmony. Plenty of life ahead.
  One of my Bordeaux of the year.

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  10/25/2023 - dkwins Likes this wine: 92 Points

  It did not stand out as particularly memorable, but it is a good wine, well settled, with a nice finish.

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