2009 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien 750 ml

We first tried the 2009 Ducru-Beaucaillou in the summer of 2010, out of barrel. It remains one of the most remarkable young wines we’ve ever tasted. On release, Robert Parker named it “one of the all-time great Ducru-Beaucaillous.” A decade-plus later, the wine is still on a gorgeous trajectory: Jeb Dunnuck awarded it a perfect 100-point score when he tasted it in late 2023, calling it “pure perfection in wine.” 

Coming from a vintage that Robert Parker suggested “may turn out to be the finest vintage I have tasted in 32 years of covering Bordeaux,” the wine shows off the luxury provided by the warm vintage. It should age beautifully for 25+ years.

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou was one of 14 estates classified as a Second Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux classification, but since then, it’s been commonly listed among the unofficial “Super Seconds,” a smaller circle of Second Growths that rival the First Growths in quality.

To that end, Christie’s Auction House declared that “many Bordeaux specialists consider this estate to be the quintessential Médoc wine”—a high honor, especially when you consider that all five First Growths, plus legendary names like Château Palmer and La Mission Haut-Brion, call the Médoc home.

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou has some of the best terroir in all of Saint-Julien, defined by its beaux cailloux (“beautiful pebbles”). Dotting the vineyards, these quartz pebbles force the vines to dig deep for water and nutrients. Adding to the hardship, the vineyards are planted at an exceptionally high density—10,000 vines per hectare—spurring intense competition between the vines. All of these factors combine to encourage the type of revelatory concentration and richness that keeps us coming back to Ducru-Beaucaillou’s wines.