Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend

#AgedWineTuesday

Dark ruby in color with a reddish rim.

Full-bodied and bold, with medium acidity and a hint of must on the nose.

Dry on the palate with black fruits, cedar, licorice, light vanilla, tobacco leaf, herbs, peppercorn, pencil lead, dark coffee, black tea and forest floor.

Long finish with round tannins and tangy raspberries.

This 19 year old still has a lot of power. Nicely balanced and complex. A beautiful Bordeaux from the great 2005 vintage.

Needs a couple of hours to open up properly and show the tannins.

Wine Enthusiasts 93 points. Wine Advocate 93 points.

Good by itself as a sipping wine.

A blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot.

13% alcohol by volume.

92 points.

$150.

Another oldie, probably just past its peak. 38 years old - not bad! Barn-sided red with some brick on the edge. Lots of cedar, graphite, black pepper and cigar ash to smell but little fruit. Nice smooth tannins, still a little puckering. Medium acidity. For flavor there are some darker berries and red cherry notes. It’s a nicely balanced wine. Good length on the finish.

1970 | Red Blend
Chateau Beychevelle
Bordeaux; Médoc, St. Julien, France
(91-93; Drink 2015-25)
3H decant

(Typical blend as 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc & 4% Petit Verdot; it's unknown to me the exact percentages for this vintage)

Nose has dried plum, truffle, old wet leather, earthy notes, moist tobacco and damp forgotten firewood.
Palate has dried cherry, vanilla/cedar, dried blackberry, sweet cherry, dehydrated plum, garden soil with faint tannins and fading acidity.

Happy Father's Day 2024 to all.

Second wine of this estate located on the southern edge of Saint-Julien, blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, deep Ruby with purple edges, aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, adding notes of cedar and earth. On the palate flavors of blackberry and ripe blueberry fruit with tobacco, oak and spice. Fine grippy tannins, medium+ finish ending with fruit, spice and wet earthy notes. Should continue to improve over next 5-6 years.

Paired with chunk. My new frenchie puppy.

The 2020 Beychevelle was perplexing from barrel. Re-tasting it three or four times, I discerned a faint but nagging vegetal note on the finish, though it was not evident on a bottle subsequently tasted at the property, which governed my banded score. Returning to Bordeaux to taste the wines that had been bottled in June 2022, I certainly appreciate the bouquet that is clean and pure with blackberry, bilberry, cedar and background sous-bois aromas. The oak is beautifully integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins and well-judged acidity. Quite intense black fruit laced with graphite, perhaps a tad more peppery than usual. On the first bottle encountered at a merchant, I picked up on the green note that sent alarm bells ringing. A second bottle at the château unequivocally showed no signs at all, very sleek and poised with a residual tingle of black pepper. Based on this sample, I am cautiously optimistic about this Beychevelle, though I will always keep a lookout for that trait. (Neal Martin, Vinous, February 2023)

UGCB 1/27/23 Pretty. Perfume, flinty, mineral

Black currant and plum amidst loamy earth and wet espresso grounds, light black peppering and river rock. Violets. Young! Grainy tannins, dried lavender and violet, dried savory, cedar, maduro tobacco, bing cherries, black cherry skin, and underripe blackberries and black currants. Do yourself a favor and age this vintage.

#châteaubeychevelle #saintjulian #2016 #bordeaux #grandvin #grandcruclasséde1855
#misenbouteilleauchateau

Earthy, like creek rocks. Clean, crisp. Barely ripe raspberry, dirty baby portobello mushroom dust (in a good way). Dried pine nettles. Old crushed bay leaves. Pet a French Brittany. The breed is smart, adaptive, and and friendly.

This was a wonderful Bordeaux drinking at or near peak. Sweet blackberry, cassis, lots of cedar, leather, so smooove