1982 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint Julien Grand Cru Classe

40th Birthday Focus: Perfect Provenance Ducru-Beaucaillou

"It is the finest Ducru-Beaucaillou produced after the 1961 and before the 2003," wrote Robert Parker after tasting this wine in 2009. We have personally opened and enjoyed this wine on two occasions in the past year, and at both celebrations it was pristine and wowed with the sublime sophistication and deep profundity that we expect out of the world's greatest Bordeaux. The bottle is in perfect maturity with a keen balance between its dense, ripe fruit and the not so fruity things we love about great old Bordeaux: Cigar box, star anise, roasted nuts, cured leather, and fine tobacco. Beyond that though, I'd like to take a moment to explain some less obvious details about what makes this particular parcel so special.

While Ducru-Beaucaillou enjoys a reputation (deservedly) as one of the elite estates in Bordeaux, the estate had a tremendously difficult spell with cork taint in their winery during the 1980s. The chai had to be completely destroyed and rebuilt in order to eliminate the problem. Therefore, while this is certainly one of the greatest wines of this epic vintage that launched the modern era of Bordeaux, few people have had the opportunity to confidently taste this wine in perfect condition. This 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou was procured direct from the estate and has been re-corked and verified to be without TCA cork taint. In this day and age where this historically important vintage has been traded back and forth between negociants, auction houses, and collectors for the last 40 years, this is a truly rare find.