2009 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien 750 ml

We’ve had the 2009 Ducru-Beaucaillou on our minds for a decade. 

We first tried it out of barrel in the summer of 2010, and it remains one of the most remarkable young wines we’ve ever tasted. We watched as Robert Parker named it “one of the all-time great Ducru-Beaucaillous” on release, and were not surprised when, just last year, Jeb Dunnuck awarded it a perfect 100-point score. 

A recent taste confirmed that this wine is just starting to emerge from its chrysalis stage, and it seemed like a perfect time to secure it for our members. We worked our Bordeaux connections to bring you 36 bottles that have been slumbering deep in Ducru’s cellars, waiting for their time to shine.

Dunnuck called the ‘09 “pure elegance and finesse paired with richness and texture,” and this château-aged specimen will hit your glass in the condition the winemaker intended—and in the condition that inspired Dunnuck to award it a perfect 100-point score that puts it alongside $1,400 Château Cheval Blanc. 

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, easy vintage. After two hours in a decanter, it begins to blossom, showing off a panoply of dark fruit aromas. Black currants, roasted dark cherries, and ripe plums burst out of the glass, joined by a riot of grilled bread, Lebanese spices, musky vanilla, and non-sweet cacao powder. There’s power to spare on the palate, which has fantastic intensity and a stern spine that drives a long, decadent finish. 

This will age for another 40 years, if you have the patience, but will open up nicely over the next five to ten. It will also deliver a ton of pleasure in the short term, so no matter what your plans, this is a bottle you want to have at the ready.

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. Library releases like this don’t come around very often—we only have 36 bottles—so make sure some makes its way into your cellar.