Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou
Bit of a wine bore moment here:
By the latter years of the 18th Century 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 slow realisation, 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… and pebbles still being the same.
This wine, however, does not unveil a neat parable of how I opened the bottle to find the taste cruder then after a while of breathing i found it beautiful too. If anything the opposite. The good bottle age gave a smoothness to the wine which oxygen developed and opened over time to create a more complex and delicious taste, although slightly less smooth.
To not be a wine bore:
It is perhaps worthwhile to point out to the casual reader that this was a delicious bottle of wine, which I drank with gusto.
A very classic style St Julien with correct acidity although lacking “impact”.
Apparently 1997 was a decent year which means this wine should pack a good punch per pound as it’s not a particularly commercial vineyard (in investing terms). The Ducru was delicious but would never be my first choice within the St Julien region.