94pts John Gilman

This bottle of 1985 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou was one of its later releases of recorked vintages and it was magnificent. Readers may recall that there were TCA issues with several mid-‘80s vintages at Ducru and the team at the estate decided to recork everything in the cellars here in 2011. The 1985 is a beautiful vintage from this superb property, offering up a deep and classic nose of cassis, a touch of pomegranate, cigar smoke, gravelly soil tones, tobacco leaf and a deft framing of toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and already nicely suave on the attack, with a fine core of fruit, excellent soil undertow and grip, refined, moderate tannins and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is starting to drink nicely, but my gut instinct is that there is still an additional layer of complexity waiting to emerge if the wine is given a bit longer in the cellar.

90pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Pale to medium brick-brown colored, the 1985 Ducru-Beaucaillou slowly unfurls to reveal notes of Christmas pudding, dried cranberries and bouquet garni with nuances of cast iron pan, dusty soil and woodsmoke. Medium-bodied, the palate has a firm, chewy backbone and oodles of freshness with a core of dried herbs and stewed tea and a slightly rustic finish. 

Wine Spectator

Mature and elegant, with a nice band of cedar, tar, currant and tobacco flavors, but the finish lacks richness and concentration, turning earthy with a drying aftertaste> Top 100 Wines of 1988, Highly Recommended

About the Wine

The result is in the glass. The allure is immediate. A soft, fruity attack on the palate, a voluptuousness underscored by perfectly integrated, silky tannins that culminate in an exceptionally lengthy finish. The aromas dance, flatter the nose, seduce the soul and penetrate the memory. A muse that arrives on tiptoe and leave a lasting, infinite souvenir.

About the Winery

For 300 years, six families have nurtured an indelible bond with Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. They are forever captives of this prestigious estate, be they named Desjean, Bergeron, Ducru, Johnston, Desbarat, or Borie. Its families were never short of praise for it. Over the decades, this devotion has managed to overcome all that is accidental or fleeting, as if passion perfected Nature's opus. 

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou owes its name to its "beautiful pebbles" ("beaux Cailloux", in French) that geologists refer to less romantically as Gunzian gravel. These quartz pebbles were deposited by the ancient Garonne at the beginning of the early Quaternary period, some two million years ago. It suffices to take a walk through the vineyards to make rich lithological finds. Lydian jasper from the Pyrenees, flint, quartz, agatoids... These Gunzian gravels make for soils that are poor in plant nutrients. But it is their very agrological paucity that guarantees the qualitative excellence of the wines. A choice of nature.