Ducru Beaucaillou 1988

[aimeedogdogdog]

I think something like 50% of the bottles of the chateau from the late '80s are tainted. Would I be lucky enough to have a good bottle of the 1988 vintage?

From outside, the bottle was clean. The fill was just half an inch below the leg of the capsule. So far so good. My hope was still half/half because it's what inside it counts. I cork-screwed 3/4 the way and suddenly I smelled the magic-bound signature aroma of a fine Ducru Beaucaillou. My heart jumped. A good sign! I took out the cork by one pull and poured some into a glass. The color of the wine was a healthy crimson shade and the liquid was clean. One sniff -- voila! Beautiful nose! My heart beat could slow down at the moment.

On the nose, a hint of the secondary aroma; beacon, oily, licorice, black currant, white truffle, stone/mineral and sweet cranberry. You can tell it just entered the secondary phase at the very early beginning. I was surprised (21 years old wine?). On the palate, silky and oily, sweet cranberry, light cassis, bitter-sweet chocolate, dusty texture, stony, some beautiful acid and very refreshing. Aftertaste was bitter sweet and some tannins. A beautiful wine and not quite ready for mature drinking yet (it's drinking well but more kind of in a young wine sense.). I was so surprised how young this wine was! An '88 still so young? It would take another 10 years for it to be ready and mature to be drunk and enjoyed (This could be a 40 years old wine based on how slow it develops so far.) Now it's an exciting wine to drink! And it's a classic Ducru Beaucaillou here. No wonder Ducru Beaucaillou is my favorite wine.

We'll see how it develops on the second day (if Chris doesn't drink it all tonight).

Werner

[JimHow]

Great stuff, Werner. As we've said here repeatedly, Ducru is such a deceptively long Agee. And you are right, there are some good bottles and there are some bad bottles from this estate from the late eighties.

[stefan]

One of my favorites, too, Werner. I grabbed a couple of mags of '95 Ducru from PC just yesterday, not that I expect to live long enough to drink them at maturity.

stefan

[JimHow]

I saw that and thought it was a decent price myself Stefan but didn't pull the trigger.

[sdr]

I really enjoyed reading your note, Werner.

I find that even among Bordeaux wine lovers, Ducru is not properly appreciated. I'm glad you help make up for the deficit. The '70 is still drinking very well although obviously deep into its mature phase. About the '66 I'm not as confident, though. The '61 was fantastic, but I haven't tasted it in many years.

~stuart

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the note Werner...a proper old school Ducru...

Conventional wisdom has it that the 1988, 1989 and 1990 vintages are tainted.

I only had bad experiences with the 1989. The one 1988 I tried was beautiful claret as you described. I have had the 1990 a few times and own half a dozen...another beautiful wine.