Le Petit Ducru Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend

Ready to go with a decant in 30 minutes, pretty and medium bodied with God fruit density. A really good Bordeaux drink now wine.

Last night we opened the 2018 Le Petit Ducru de Ducru-Beaucaillou. Saint-Julien from the Left Bank Bordeaux. This was previously known as Laland-Borie.

On the nose there is black cherry, blackberry, black plum, nlack currant, mocha, violets, black licorice and earth.

On the palate there is black cherry, blackberry, black currant, cedar, herbaceous notes, spice, black pepper, graphite and earth.

This wine is full bodied with medium + mouthwatering acidity and medium + crunchy mouthcoating tannins the move instantly into a long black fruit gravelly soil finish. I hope everyone is having a great weekend enjoying some fine wines. Please stay safe and healthy. Nostrovia! 🍷🍷🍷🍷

If you drink a lot of pleasant, simple wine (like I do), the first complex wine in a while can wake the sense like a Wim Hoff ice bath. Le Petit Ducru is also a due reminder that I should drink more Bordeaux.

Intense, rich, layered. Pours velvet ribbons of violet tinted motor oil. About 100 layers of aromatics - cassis, syrupy blackberries, leather, coffee, milk chocolate. Big juicy grippy tannin. Flavors of dark cherry plum, mocha, laden with minerals and juicy berries. Real symphony on hand.

Hints of Brett, tobacco, tomato leaf, bitter finish, med tannin and med finish.

Damn good bottle of wine..

Edit… came back as I couldn’t stop thinking about this bottle all night.

California wines were my ‘gateway drug’. I moved away from these wines as I learned about and tried the many many varietals around the world. Ultimately, I fell in love with the quality and, frankly, accessibility of Italian wines. Over the last 5 or 10 years i’ve tried many Italians, travelled to and gotten to know the regions reasonably well. Italy vino is my thing.

But French wine… it eludes me. I know there are great wines — maybe the best. But the country is so large, the regions and varieties so diverse, the price, sometimes too discouraging, that I simply haven’t learned enough about the wines to know my way around the offerings or how to find the wines I love.

But… I know they are there. I’ve had my share. And just how “every now and then a squirrel finds a nut”, so to do I, from time to time find my way to a great French bottle to remind me I’ve leveled up.

This bottle, for me, was one of those reminders. I actually opened it by accident. While bummed it had no age, I was so happy to drink it. I’ll probably buy a few more to cellar… and, yeah, will probably now spend a little more time and money brushing up on my French…

Third take on this one. Meaty, black curranty nose with a note of smoke and oak. Good palate with width, matter on the sides, savoury notes all along, black currant, good tannins in the rear before a great tannic wall, that powers up a long, meaty, fruity finish that goes on for a long while, with a layer of dryness and light bitterness in the rear. It's quite concentrated and very well put together.

Second take of this one in the same vintage. A bit of barnyard funk at first, which is a bit out of place for a Saint Julien. There is tar, black currant, bacon fat too on the nose. The palate is well done, with a good width, some nice, soft mouthfeel, giving way to some drying, dusty tannins in the rear, some nice blackcurrant touches can be felt all along. The finish is savory, tangy, fruity and a tiny bit salty. It goes on for a good while. It's a tiny bit unbalanced toward acidity for the price I would say, but it's a good Saint Julien in itself. I will leave the remaining 3 bottles sleep for some more time now.

Third wine of 2nd growth #stjulien Bordeaux châteaux. Richer, almost New World style, black currant, bramble fruit, cigar box nose, decent balance on palate. Medium plus tannins that build over time.

Dark inky purple. Nose of high toned sweet blue fruit with pencil lead and a floral note (gorgeous nose). Initial sip with aggressive dry tannins which complicate palate, but the dark fruit is present in background. Needs some air, but can sense pedigree. I’d give this another 5-10 years

Expected more?!