#396 Pairing 1 - Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou

One week - four pairings of wine spanning, at the very least, seven years, and all wines that I have been very fond of in the past.  Hermitage La Chapelle from Paul Jaboulet Aine is the only good wine from my birth year of 1978, and I have been trying to figure out a way to try that wine for a decade now, but it is far too expensive.  Fontanafredda Barolo has always been a great entry level Barolo and Graham's is my favourite Port house.  But first, my favourite bordeaux producer, two vintages of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou.

Firstly, the 1970 Ducru Beaucaillou, is a wine that I have tried before and love it. This bottle had a rich, rounded aroma, some muted cassis and cherry.  There is a bit of mint to it, some semi dried berries and a lovely menthol aromas coming through.  The palate has a sweet, earth - potting compost almost - with some cherry and some leather flavours.  A long finish with savoury leather flavours and a vegetal finish.  This is proper Ducru, and delicious, but not as good as I remembered it.  92pts

The 1995 Ducru Beaucaillou had rich, sweetened fruit, a lot of dark cassis and soft bramble aromas.  There is an earthy element to it too, very dark with a deep liquorice and cinnamon stick flavour.  There is a touch of aniseed at first followed by chocolate, bramble and a little dark peppery flavour.  It is a nice wine, but just lacks the charm and the rustic elegance of 1970.   88pts

Both wines are good, but I wasn't blown away by them.  The 1995 lacks something, it is not really what you want from this St Julien producer and is a bit too big, but the 1970 is very good, just not brilliant.

Next - Fontanafredda Barolo