Chateau Beausejour Duffau - St.-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe 2021 (1.5L)

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Chateau Beausejour Duffau Description

Chateau Beausejour was built in 1851 by the Laporte family. The Laporte family owned several vineyard estates in the Bordeaux region and were also prosperous wine merchants. In those days, the large chai was used to store and age the most prestigious wines of the Saint Émilion and Pomerol regions (Cheval Blanc, Petrus, Beau-Sejour, Nénin, La Conseillante, ... and Chateau Beausejour!)

The estate was purchased in 1994 by a group of wine loving investors. During this period, the Germain Vineyards Company was in charge of the management and the marketing of the wines.

Patricia and Pierre Bernault have owned Chateau Beauséjour since December 2004; Pierre himself comes from a family of vine growers, who have been cultivating their own vineyards since 1850.

As soon as Patricia and Pierre Bernault bought Beauséjour, Stéphane Derenoncourt and his team got involved in giving them advice on restoration of the vineyard and the soil, as well as on the rigorous stages of the process of making and maturing wine.

James Suckling: 97 Points

"Fascinating depth and complexity with beautifully knit fruit and oak spices. Glossy, bright but subtle, with lightly smoked herbs, berries, white pepper, mineral, high-grade wood and pencil shavings. Medium to full body with juicy fruit and minerals tapping into an extremely long and layered finish. So much finesse here. Lasting well over a minute. A stunning wine from the vintage." - Zekun Shuai

Decanter: 95 Points

An exceptional wine from this estate in 2021. So aromatic and beguiling on the nose - pure, lifted, completely captivating in the intensity of fruit and the liveliness of aroma with tiny touches of milk chocolate and perfumed blackcurrants. Supple, agile and sappy on the palate, but also so delicate and elegant in terms of the overall profile. Tannins are fine and gentle, persistent but with the limestone terroir coming through in the mineral, saline, graphite elements which linger at the end. There is definite concentration, you feel they got the maturity of the fruit and didn't push extraction. It's not super opulent, but expands on the palate and changes after a few minutes in the glass and as it warms, gaining in aromatic complexity. Really very juicy and pristine with cherry, strawberry and blackcurrant fruit as well as liquorice and dark chocolate. Excellent quality with freshness and appeal, balanced and harmonious with the slight lift and peak of clove, vanilla, cedar bramble suggesting a bigger frame that will age well. A success and extremely likeable. 58% new oak. First full vintage for Josephine Duffau-Lagarrosse since she took the helm of her family estate. Tasted twice. Julien Viaud consultant. - Georgina Hindle

Jane Anson: 94 Points

You're not going to get the same opulence of the past five years, but this is entirely successful in terms of harmony, elegance and finesse. A jolt of limestone salinity, lemongrass, oyster shell, violets, rose petals, and a subtle but moreish wave of cigar box and graphite smoke. Unrolls slowly but surely, with evident ripeness to the red fruits, and salt-cracker salinity on the finish. Harvest September 30 to October 10 (able to do so because they got only 10mm of rain at the end of September), 28hl/h yield, 58% new oak. Camille Devillenaut co-technical director with Josephine Duffau-Lagarrosse, coming over from Château Villemaurine. Tasted twice. First year with Axel Marchal as consultant, working alongside Michel Rolland (Julien Viaud), replacing the Nicolas Thienpont team.

Wine Advocate: 93-95+ Points

The 2021 Beauséjour (Duffau Lagarrosse) shows considerable promise. Bursting with aromas of inky berry fruit and plums mingled with notions of violets, rose petals and burning embers, the wine is medium to full-bodied, layered and sensual, with a rich core of fruit, lively acids and beautifully refined tannins, concluding with a long, mineral finish. The first vintage made by Joséphine Duffau Lagarrosse since she took back control of the family estate, the 2021 is a blend of 73% Merlot and 27% Cabernet Franc—the highest percentage of Cabernet since the early 2000s (when some Cabernet Sauvignon was included in the blend too). - William Kelley

Jeb Dunnuck: 93-95+ Points

A blend of 73% Merlot and 27% Cabernet Franc, the 2021 Château Beauséjour (Duffau-Lagarrosse) is slightly shifted toward Cabernet Franc, and you have to go back quite some time to find a blend with this much Cabernet. It saw a softer maceration than usual and is aging in 56% new French oak. Gorgeous cassis, graphite, chalky minerality, and a Pomerol-like damp earth note all emerge from this wine, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a rounded, supple texture, ripe, present tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It's an undeniable success in the vintage and will drink well right out of the gate yet also evolve for 20 years if well stored. This estate is now managed by Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse, who took over the reins of this brilliant estate from Nicholas Thienpont starting in 2020. Located between Canon and Beauséjour Bécot, the soils here are more on the south-facing slopes and include slightly more clay, so the wines always have slightly more density and power compared to its neighbors.