Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

in the Saint-Julien

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

of the

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

region of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is also the name of the red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen ''Deuxièmes Crus'' (Second Growths) in the original

Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the Exposition Universelle (1855), 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III of France, Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordea ...

History

The estate Château Ducru-Beaucaillou was purchased by Francois Borie in 1941 and has remained in the family since then. The family also owns other estates,

Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighte ...

and

Château Haut-Batailley Château Haut-Batailley () is a winery in the Pauillac Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was part of the property that was classified as one of eighteen ''Cinquièmes Crus'' ( ...

. In the mid-1980s the estate battled an infestation of

TCA TCA may refer to: Chemistry and biochemistry * Toxin complex a, an insecticidal toxin complex produced by ''Photorhabdus luminescens'' bacteria * Tricarboxylic acid cycle, an alternate name for the citric acid cycle pathway in cellular metabolism ...

in their cellars that marred several vintages including the 1988, 1989, and 1990. The Chateau has since corrected the problem, and today the wines are fermented and aged in a new underground cellar created in the late 1990s. Today the estate is managed by Bruno Borie.

Vineyard

Ducru-Beaucaillou's

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s consist of 50 hectares of well-drained gravel with stones up to 2.5 inches in diameter. (''beaucaillou '' means "beautiful stones".) The vineyards are planted in

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

(70%) and

Merlot Merlot ( ) is a dark-blue-colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of , the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color ...

(30%); previous plantings of

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

and

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...

having been uprooted. The vines' average age in 2005 was 38 years.

Wine

Ducru-Beaucaillou produces three wines. The grand vin, called Château Ducru-Beaucaillou; a

second wine Second wine or second label (French: ''Second vin'') is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from '' cuvee'' not selected for use in the ''Grand vin'' or first label. In some cases a third wine or e ...

, La Croix de Beaucaillou, produced since 1995, to which lesser-quality lots are relegated; and a third wine, Le Petit Ducru de Ducru-Beaucaillou, produced since 2019, comprising the former Château Lalande-Borie. The wines are aged for 18 months in 50% to 80% new oak barrels according to the richness of the vintage, fined with egg whites, lightly filtered, and then bottled. Wine writer

Jay McInerney John Barrett "Jay" McInerney Jr. (; born January 13, 1955) is an American novelist, screenwriter, editor, and columnist. His novels include '' Bright Lights, Big City'', ''Ransom'', '' Story of My Life'', '' Brightness Falls'', and ''The Last o ...

wrote "Ducru has always been a wine of finesse rather than sheer brute power, a kind of Burgundian Bordeaux."

, ''Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar'',

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

, 2000, p. 196

References

External links

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ducru-Beaucaillou, Chateau Bordeaux wine producers

History

Vineyard

Wine

See also

References

External links