Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 2004

Item No.: 8

Region:: Bordeaux
Type:: red
Category:: 2 Grand Cru
Manufacturer:: Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou
Vintage:: 2004
Alcohol Volume:: 13%
Color:: red
Unit Size:: 750 ml,
Price:: € 140.00

Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou in JulieAnie French Wine Shop

The origin of the Ducru-Beaucaillou vineyards may be traced back to the 17th Century, when they were once part of a much larger property, Beychevelle. The seeds that grew into Ducru-Beaucaillou and also Branaire-Ducru were sown in 1642 when, following the death of Beychevelle's proprietor, the Duc d'Epernon, Bernard de Valette, the estate was sold off in order to settle his not inconsiderable debts. This act led to the parcellation of the estate, and although some of the vineyards were gathered together again by subsequent owners of Beychevelle, some were destined to remain separate. One part was purchased by Jean-Baptiste Braneyre in 1680, and that is the Branaire-Ducru of today. A second part, very near the Gironde, was to be what we know today as Ducru-Beaucaillou.

By the latter years of the 18th Century the land was in the hands of a gentleman by the name of Bergeron, and the wine was sold as such, although the estate was known as Maucaillou, allegedly derived from mauvaise and cailloux (literally 'bad pebbles'), a reference to the difficult, stony ground and perhaps even the lesser quality of the wine. It may be that it was the realisation, under the tenure of Bergeron, that the wine was in fact of good quality and the pebbles were perhaps not being so difficult after all, that Maucaillou became Beaucaillou, beau meaning beautiful. Following the change in name, however, there also came a change of hands; in 1795 Bergeron died, and the chateau was acquired by a new proprietor, Bertrand Ducru. Hence the origin of the name still given to the property today, Ducru-Beaucaillou. With his tenure the quality continued to improve and prices, the major factor in the order drawn up for the Exposition Universelle de Paris listing, gradually climbed upwards. He and his wife Marie had two offspring; Gustave, who married a wealthy widow, and Marie-Louise, who was wedded to Antoine Ravez, the son of a local, influential politician. Upon the death of Bertrand in 1829, the two children inherited the estate, and they ran it jointly for just over thirty years. In this time Gustave renovated the vineyards, and was responsible for the construction of much of the chateau (below) as it stands today, including the barrel cellars which lie directly beneath it, an unusual arrangement for the Médoc. In 1857, however, Gustave purchased Branaire-Ducru from his cousins, and then in 1860 he ceded control of Ducru-Beaucaillou to his sister. Just six years later she sold it on, the new owner being Lucie-Caroline Dassier, the spouse of the merchant Nathanial Johnston, who had inherited the company set up by his ancestor William Johnston, an immigrant of Scottish-Irish origin. By this time the 1855 classification had been drawn up, and the estate was ranked alongside the Léoville properties (Barton, Las-Cases and Poyferré) and Gruaud-Larose, as one of the five deuxièmes crus of St Julien. Although the estate had been purchased by his wife, using her own money, such a prestigious and highly ranked chateau quickly became the jewel in the Johnston crown. He even tried to simplify the name to Beaucaillou, removing any association with the prior owners, but permission was refused.

Through the latter years of the 19th Century, the Ducru wines remained popular and Johnston's tenure was a success. There were difficult times to follow, however, starting with Phylloxera and then the mildew epidemic, the two probably inter-related disasters that swept through the vineyards of France. Ducru in fact played a startlingly important role in the discovery of a solution to mildew, thanks to an anti-theft deterrent employed by the manager, Ernest David. This vibrantly coloured paint of copper sulphate and lime not only stayed pilfering hands, it also proved to be effective prophylaxis against the new disease. Thus Bordeaux Mixture was discovered, the substance being tested in the Dauzac vineyards; there is much more detail on this serendipitous discovery in my profile of Chateau Dauzac. At the turn of the century Nathaniel Johnston was enjoying his tenure at Ducru, investing in the local community with the construction of a church, hospice and nursery, and also in the vineyard. Following the death of his wife he remarried, this time to Marie Caradja of Constantinople, the daughter of Prince Constantine of Turkey. In her honour he augmented and refurbished the chateau, with the assistance of Michel-Louis Garros, a renowned architect and graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. The most notable additions were two towers at either end of the chateau, but there were also two new wings, a conservatory and newly landscaped gardens leading down to the Gironde. Ducru-Beaucaillou became a notable landmark. Tragically, bad times followed the good, and what success the Johnstons had enjoyed was insufficient to provide continued security in these trying times, compounded as they were by subsequent depression and war. In 1929 the couple were forced to sell the estate, this time to a wine merchant named Desbarats. But he had no more success than the Johnstons, and little more than a decade later the property was on the market again following his death. It was the Borie family that became, in 1941, the new owners of a very dilapidated estate. Francis Borie took on the monumental task of renovation, and by the 1950s there were tangible results. The work was continued after his death by his son, Jean-Eugène, who steered through the property through the second half of the 20th Century. It was not until 1998, following his death, that the next generation came to the fore. He was succeeded by his son François-Xavier, who subsequently yielded to his younger brother, Bruno, in 2003.

The vineyards at Ducru run almost down to the Gironde, lying between those of parent Beychevelle to the north and Latour, in the commune of Pauillac, to the south. All told there are 215 hectares, largely characterised by typical, deep Gunzian gravel and the aforementioned cailloux, the large pebbles that gave the estate its name. Not all of the estate is planted to vines, and of note is the fact that not all the vines are destined for the grand vin, Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, or even the second wine, introduced in 1995, La Croix de Beaucaillou. In 1970 Francis Borie purchased a section of vineyard comprising 32 hectares from Lagrange; these vines do not yield fruit thought to be of Beaucaillou quality, however, and these have always been bottled as Lalande-Borie, not a second or even third label, but rather a distinct wine from the same vineyard year-in year-out. There are 49 hectares of Ducru vineyards, of which approximately half lie around the chateau, most of the rest lie further inland with the St Julien commune, bordering those of Gruaud-Larose and Talbot. The vines are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, with an average vine age of 40 years, planted at a density of 10000 vines/ha. The harvest is manual, and the fruit passes over a sorting table before before destemming, pressing and fermentation in stainless steel under temperature controlled conditions. The process takes about two weeks, with frequency of pumping over and exact temperature tailored to each individual vat. Once finished it will be left to macerate for a week, and then the finished wine, including some batches of press wine, will be assessed before it undergoes malolactic fermentation in the vats. It then goes into wood, those batches marked for the grand vin seeing between 50% and 80% new oak. Those wines not suitable for the second wine will be sold off. After eighteen months in oak the wines are fined using egg white and then bottled. What is it about Ducru-Beaucaillou that seems to captivate some Bordeaux acolytes, and yet distance others? I know some who consider it to be their desert-island claret, who wax lyrical about their favourite bottles, and who hoard them in anticipation of special meals and special evenings, when they will be free of disruption, free of distraction, and free to lose themselves in the wine. I also know some who find the wine utterly unappealing, and wish themselves not so much free of distraction, more free of Ducru altogether. It certainly has an elegant style, perhaps accentuated over the last couple of decades, that demands attention. One man's elegant is another's lack of substance. My experience with the wine has been positive, having tasted a small number of recent and moderately mature vintages. Most recently I have found the 1998 to be really very good, particularly in the context of the vintage; it was convincing enough for me to add some to the cellar, at the right price. The 1997 was decent, but fair, again the context of the vintage is important. I do not think Ducru is my desert-island wine, and would not even be my first choice within the St Julien commune. But that is not to say that the wines are not admirable, and that the quality is not there, as it is. Older vintages from the 1980s show the class of the wine with clarity, and I look forward to every opportunity I have to taste and drink these wines.