{"product_id":"chateau-ducru-beaucaillou-saint-julien-grand-cru-classe-1996-5l","title":"Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - Saint-Julien (Grand Cru Classé) 1996 (5L)","description":"\u003cp\u003e96\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWine Advocate\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReview Date: 04\/1999\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI tasted the 1996 Ducru Beaucaillou on four separate occasions from bottle in January. The 1996 is long, with a deep mid-palate. It also reveals tannin in the finish. This wine is remarkable. It is muscular, concentrated, and classic. Bottled in late June, 1998, it exhibits a saturated ruby\/purple color, as well as a knock-out nose of minerals, licorice, cassis, and an unmistakable lead pencil smell that I often associate with top vintages of Lafite-Rothschild. It is sweet and full-bodied, yet unbelievably rich with no sense of heaviness or flabbiness. The wine possesses high tannin, but it is extremely ripe, and the sweetness of the black currant, spice-tinged Cabernet Sauvignon fruit is pronounced. This profound, backward Ducru-Beaucaillou is a must purchase. It will be fascinating for readers who own the 1996 to follow the evolution of this exceptional vintage. (RP)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e95\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Wine Independent\u003cbr\u003eReview Date: 09\/2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1996 Ducru-Beaucaillou, tasted at the chateau, is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot. Deep garnet-brick in color, scents of black cherries, redcurrant jelly, and pencil lead jump from the glass, leading to hints of Ceylon tea and clove oil. The medium-bodied palate has a velvety texture framing the delicate black and red fruit layers, with a lively backbone and a long, spicy finish. (LPB)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e93\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Gilman\u003cbr\u003eReview Date: 05\/2012\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1996 Ducru-Beaucaillou is just beginning to stir from its closed adolescence and is showing very good promise for its eventual period of peak drinkability, but that is still more than a decade away. The nose is starting to develop some secondary layers of complexity in its mélange of cassis, dark berries, currant leaf, cigar smoke, a touch of Ducru’s nutskin, complex soil tones, herbs and a nice framing of cedary, spicy wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite black fruity in personality, with an excellent signature of soil, a very tobaccoey personality, fine-grained, but quite substantial tannins, lovely acidity and a very long, soil-driven and classic finish. This is a superb vintage of Ducru that should really get interesting to drink around its thirtieth birthday and prove to be very, very long-lived. Impressive juice. 93+\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e93\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVinous\u003cbr\u003eReview Date: 07\/2022\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1996 Ducru-Beaucaillou is a vintage that I have not tasted for a number of years. Matured in two-thirds new oak, it has an open and expressive bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, estuarine scents, touches of liquorice emerging with time. It is higher-toned than the 1995 with iodine evolving with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent tannins, fresh acidity, quite sweet in the mouth and maybe like the 1995, just missing that complexity and terroir expression that I think has defined recent vintages from this estate. Maybe it is slightly compromised by some Merlot (25%) that was picked a but later, but still, there is a lot of pleasure to be found in this 1996. Tasted at the Ducru Beaucaillou vertical at the château. (NM)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e91\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWine Spectator\u003cbr\u003eReview Date: 03\/2007\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIntense aromas of cedar, vanilla, leather and blackberry. Full-bodied, with coffee, vanilla, ripe fruit and a medium finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJames Suckling\u003cbr\u003eReview Date: 06\/2016\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ducru 1996 is less extravagant than the 2000. It shows a full body, with firm tannins and pretty floral, leaf, light earth and berry character.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e94+ points, Stephen Tanzer for Vinous: \"Bright medium ruby. Deep, superripe aromas of dark berries, black cherry and bitter chocolate; slightly exotic crystallized fruit aspect. Dense, sweet and wonderfully rich; a lovely combination of palate-caressing chocolatey fruit and firm underlying structure. Finishes with excellent grip and great palate-saturating sweetness. Another outstanding 1996 Medoc wine in the making.\" (7\/2002)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Logan, Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47887753019616,"sku":"130512","price":2593.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0649\/9713\/0464\/files\/chateau-ducru-beaucaillou-saint-julien-grand-cru-classe_1_11d90378-86fe-4ff2-9f35-9ff72e8252f8.jpg?v=1760649921","url":"https:\/\/www.mywineconnection.com\/products\/chateau-ducru-beaucaillou-saint-julien-grand-cru-classe-1996-5l","provider":"My Wine Connection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}