Saint-Julien · second growth (2e grand cru classé) in 1855
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou: vintages available, prices and food pairing
The grand vin of Ducru-Beaucaillou, older vintages included, vintage by vintage, with the format, the indicative price and what to expect from it today: ready to drink, or for keeping. Tick what interests you, and the quote goes out with your selection.
The vintages on our price list
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The château
A second growth in the 1855 classification, Ducru-Beaucaillou takes its name from the “beaux cailloux”, the fine pebbles, the rolled gravel of its ridge, which runs down almost to the Gironde. The Borie family has owned it since 1941; another branch holds Grand-Puy-Lacoste, in Pauillac. The wine is mostly cabernet sauvignon, with merlot: tight in its youth, it needs ten years and lasts thirty in good years.
It is counted among the “super seconds”, the second growths that sell close to the price of the firsts. Its second wine is called La Croix de Beaucaillou. To know when a second wine is the right choice, see the great château second wines page. The appellation's other châteaux are on the Saint-Julien wines page.
The “beaux cailloux” are Günz gravels: pebbles of quartz, flint, agate and lydite from the Pyrenees, laid down by the ancient Gironde nearly two million years ago. These lean soils force the vine to root deep; in summer, the stones store the day's heat and give it back at night, which helps ripening. The estuary, more than three kilometres wide here, softens the winters, tempers heatwaves and steers hail away. Each plot is vinified according to its profile and the grand vin is aged for eighteen months.
What to serve it with
- A vintage more than twenty years old: feathered game, lièvre à la royale, a fine poultry dish with morels (wine with game). Keep the dish simple: the wine is what you are serving.
- A vintage of ten to twenty years: roast lamb or leg of lamb (wine with lamb), fillet of beef (wine with beef).
- With cheese: a well-aged pressed cheese, an old Comté, rather than a blue that overwhelms the wine (wine with cheese).
Which vintage for which occasion
For a fiftieth birthday or later, the birth year is worth more than the greatest year in the table: the birth-year vintage page says, year by year, what is still drinking. A magnum serves a dozen glasses and ages more slowly than a bottle: the right format for a table of ten. As a gift, the original wooden case makes the present.
Is Château Ducru-Beaucaillou a grand cru classé?
Yes. It is a second growth (deuxième grand cru classé) in the 1855 classification, in the Saint-Julien appellation, at the same rank as the three Léovilles (Las Cases, Poyferré, Barton) and Gruaud Larose. Its second wine, La Croix de Beaucaillou, is not classified: the classification applies to the grand vin alone.
When should you drink a Ducru-Beaucaillou?
Allow ten years before opening it and thirty-five years of good form, a little longer in a great year, a little less in a weak year or in half bottles; in magnum, the wine develops more slowly. The table applies this rule to every line; it is not a tasting note, and a badly stored bottle ages faster.
Should you decant an old Ducru-Beaucaillou?
A vintage more than twenty years old often has a sediment: stand the bottle upright the day before, then pour it gently into a decanter just before serving, leaving the sediment at the bottom. A young vintage, on the other hand, gains from one or two hours of aeration.
Are the prices shown the ones in the quote?
They are the indicative prices from the price list, incl. VAT, per bottle of the format, delivery excluded. The quote confirms the price, the availability of each vintage and the shipping; the delivery grid gives the lead times. For a vintage not in the table, the quote request is still open.