La Croix Ducru Beaucaillou Saint Julien 2019

The 2019 La Croix Ducru Beaucaillou is matured for 12 months in 60% new oak. Interestingly, that Earl Grey tincture continues to define this very classically styled wine, enhancing the black fruit. Hints of ash emerge with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and plenty of graphite-infused black fruit that render this quite Pauillac in style. Impressively persistent on the tobacco-tinged finish. Leave this for 4-5 years in bottle just to smooth its edges.

The second wine of this great château is the 2019 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou, which is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot that was raised in 60% new barrels. It fits into the lineup beautifully and sits nicely between the Le Petit Ducru and the Grand Vin. Deep purple-hued, with full-bodied aromas and flavors of pure cassis, crushed stone, graphite, lead pencil, and smoked tobacco, it has building yet fine tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It shows the more regal, classy, elegant, yet still concentrated style of this vintage perfectly. Give bottles a healthy decant if drinking any time soon, and it will have upwards of two decades of prime drinking.

Rich aromas of cassis, licorice, cigar wrapper, loamy soil and creamy new oak introduce Bruno Borie's 2019 La Croix de Beaucaillou, a full-bodied, deep and concentrated wine that's rich and lively, with a fleshy core of fruit and plenty of fine, chalky tannin. Like for example Clos du Marquis and Les Forts de Latour, La Croix de Beaucaillou isn't a second wine per se, but rather a cuvée produced from dedicated parcels.