95pts Wine Enthusiast

Velvet tannins are allied with powerful fruit to create a rich wine with signs of the wood aging that smooth it further. It will be a generous wine that will keep its fine fruitiness for many years. Barrel Sample: 93-95 points

94pts James Suckling

A juicy and savory second wine from Ducru with lots of ripe fruit and spice character. Chocolate and walnut undertones. Full body, velvety tannins and a fresh finish. Barrel Sample: 93-94

93pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2015 La Croix de Beaucaillou is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. It has a floral note on the nose: small black cherries, blueberry and wilted violets, the last becoming more intense as the initially tight-fisted wine opens in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannin. There is very well-judged acidity and its texture is harmonious and silky smooth. The quality is loaded more in the mouth than on the nose at the moment, but it is a seriously classy "deuxième vin" that just needs a little more persistence on the finish. Barrel Sample: 91-93

91pts Decanter

Smooth, classy black fruits – a very polished wine from a separate vineyard with no young vines. Excitingly expressive and will develop very well. 

91pts Wine Spectator

An alluring, seductive style, with mulled fig and boysenberry fruit carried by velvety structure, while singed mesquite, Lapsang souchong tea and warm ganache notes hang in the background. Everything meshes nicely through the smoldering finish, which has latent grip. Best from 2020 through 2032. 

Winemaker's Notes

La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou is an original expression of the terroirs of Ducru-Beaucaillou, a blend that is one of a kind. Ducru-Beaucaillou’s elitist approach is fully at work here. As is a passion, that of a team dedicated to excellence. 

A high-flying wine that perfectly expresses its terroir of exception. This wine blends a high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon (around 60% each year), completed with Merlot Noir (35% to 37%) as well as a subtly spicy touch of Petit Verdot (3% to 5%).

Powerful, silky, very aromatic, La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou beguiles with its bouquet, its balance, its remarkable finesse and its lengthy finish. A great cuvée that stimulates, then captivates the senses; it is the perfect introduction to the Borie signature.

Vineyard Notes

The wines of La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou come from the vineyard of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. This exceptional Médoc terroir is situated between the Gironde River to the east, the centre and the west of the Saint-Julien appellation. The estate owes its name to its “beautiful pebbles” ("beaux cailloux", in French) which, because of their high quartz content, make for soils that are poor in plant nutrients. 

It is precisely this “agrological” paucity, as the late Bordeaux professor and geographer, René Pijassou, described it, that makes them so well-suited to the production of fine wine. In the east, the plots are planted along the rolling Médoc ridges, just above the estuary, while those at the epicentre benefit from a microclimate nurtured by the little La Mouline stream that meanders through the middle of the appellation from west to east before disappearing into the Gironde.

Blend: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot