2022 Ducru-Beaucaillou La Croix de Beaucaillou

The second wine of the château, the 2022 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is slightly more Merlot based, as the majority of the Cabernet Sauvignon went to the Grand Vin. Based on 66% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Petit Verdot, it has a dense purple hue as well as brilliant aromatics of ripe black cherries, cassis, graphite, and spring flowers. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Saint-Julien offering fine, polished tannins, remarkable elegance, and a great finish. Despite being a second wine, this brings ample structure and tannins and will have well over two decades of longevity.

The 2022 La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou has a wonderful, beautifully defined bouquet with pure blackberry, briar and cedar scents becoming ever more floral as it opens in the glass. It's concentrated but very well controlled. The palate is medium-bodied, tensile and poised with saturated tannins, a keen line of acidity and a sophisticated, persistent finish. This is a seriously fine Deuxième Vin that should require three or four years in bottle.

Intense, concentrated, succulent, bitter cocoa bean and mint leaf, dark berry fruit, this is capturing the spirit of the vintage but giving it a sleek, confident accent, packed with sinewy tannins, and floral accents. 80% new oak for ageing, harvest September 7 to October 4. An upscore since En Primeur.