2020 Ch. Beychevelle - Saint Julien GCC | € 84,00 (€ 101,64) |
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Grote, klassieke Beychevelle met een neus van kersjes, kruid en toast en een palet van koele rode en zwarte besjes, verhoogd door knapperige tannine met een kaneeltoets. Fijn en floraal in zijn uitdrukking. 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot en 4% Petit Verdot met een rendement van 47 hl/ha waarvan 55% Grand Vin. De oogst vond plaats tussen 14 en 30 september. IN DE PERS 93 Neal Martin – vinous.com (April 2023) The 2020 Beychevelle was perplexing from barrel. Re-tasting it three or four times, I discerned a faint but nagging vegetal note on the finish, though it was not evident on a bottle subsequently tasted at the property, which governed my banded score. Returning to Bordeaux to taste the wines that had been bottled in June 2022, I certainly appreciate the bouquet that is clean and pure with blackberry, bilberry, cedar and background sous-bois aromas. The oak is beautifully integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins and well-judged acidity. Quite intense black fruit laced with graphite, perhaps a tad more peppery than usual. On the first bottle encountered at a merchant, I picked up on the green note that sent alarm bells ringing. A second bottle at the château unequivocally showed no signs at all, very sleek and poised with a residual tingle of black pepper. Based on this sample, I am cautiously optimistic about this Beychevelle, though I will always keep a lookout for that trait. 94-96 Neal Martin – vinous.com (Juni 2021) The 2020 Beychevelle is the one wine that I vowed to re-taste at the château since I found three samples tasting in the UK vexing because of a green taint on the finish. Here, the nose performs well: pure blackberry and crushed violet, none of those incongruous “mulch” or “vegetal” scents that I noticed before. That’s a good omen. The palate? This is far different to the samples tasted before. I think there is still a very nuanced green/bell pepper note towards the finish, but here it is subsumed into the layers of black fruit. Swallowing a sip just to be certain, I am more reassured that the samples in the UK were unrepresentative and glad that I did not attribute a score, which I am happy to do now. Drink 2028-2055. 94-96 Antonio Galloni – vinous.com (Mei 2021) The 2020 Beychevelle opens with the most exotic bouquet imaginable. Wild flowers of all sorts, spice, lavender and inky dark fruit all saturate the palate. As always, Beychevelle is an overt, flamboyant wine, but all of the elements are so well out together. The 2020 is sexy, alluring and impossible to resist. Time in the glass brings out redder tonalities of fruit along with sweet floral notes that add striking inner perfume. Even as a barrel sample, I am so tempted to just drink it. Drink 2030 - 2055. 94 Jane Anson – janeanson.com (Februari 2023) Big shouldered, layers of dark berry fruits, liqourice, cigar box, cloves and solid tannins, with character and depth, clear ageing potential. Muscular tannic construction, keeping its St Julien finesse a little hidden for now, but it will arrive with ageing, and you'd be hard pressed to be unhappy with drinking this 15 years from now. 47hl/h yield. 94 Jane Anson – decanter.com (Mei 2021) Smoke, grilled almond on the nose, even a touch of rubber from an edge of reduction. This has depth to black chocolate and bilberry fruit, it is well balanced and seductive. Enjoyable, it's pretty broad shouldered but it sits well within the successful run of vintages at Beychevelle. A yield of 47hl/ha. 18 months ageing. 55% first wine. Drinking Window 2029 – 2044. 93+ William Kelley – robertparker.com (April 2023) Rich and muscular, the 2020 Beychevelle offers up aromas of cassis, blackberries and baked plums mingled with notions of spices, pencil shavings and toasty new oak. Medium to full-bodied, thick and fleshy, with an ample core of fruit framed by powdery, generously extracted tannins that assert themselves on the finish, this is a more powerful, chunky Beychevelle than the suave 2019. Drink 2027-2055. Château Beychevelle is a large landowner, at 250 hectares. But of these, only 90 are planted to vines and only 78 are located within the Saint-Julien appellation (the rest are in neighboring Cussac). Around 60% of those holdings are located on the plateau between Branaire-Ducru and Ducru-Beaucaillou, and the percentage of Merlot is quite elevated at 40%—though it's declining, as replanting here favors Cabernet Sauvignon. Since 2008, viticulture has become much less dependent on chemicals. The grand vin itself represents just over half of the production, and in the last decade or so, it has become a touch richer and more extracted and chunky. Given Beychevelle's impressive holdings on prime terroirs overlooking the estuary (something only appreciates when looking at a map), it's clear that one could expect even greater things. 94-96 Lisa Perrotti-Brown – robertparker.com (Mei 2021) Deep purple-black colored, the 2020 Beychevelle offers up vibrant notes of black raspberries, fresh black cherries and cassis, plus hints of wild sage, chocolate mint, rose hip tea and fallen leaves, with an exotic hint of Indian spices. The medium to full-bodied palate offers layers of crunchy black fruits with a firm, grainy texture and just enough freshness, finishing long and perfumed. Drink 2026 – 2046. 94-95 James Suckling – jamessuckling (April 2021) Sweet-berry and tobacco character with blackberries and violets. It’s full-bodied with firm, polished tannins and a fresh finish. Very fine at the end. 95-97 Jeb Dunnuck – jebdunnuck.com (Mei 2021) 16/20 Jancis Robinson – jancisrobinson.com (Mei 2021) Full bottle 1,245 g. Cask sample taken 31 March. 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot. Concentrated purple. Headily aromatic with mulberry perfume and just a hint of oak. Silky tannins and marked freshness. Neat and the opposite of opulent. Classic wine for the table. 13.5%. Drink 2028 – 2044. 97 Ella Lister – lefigaro.fr (April 2023) - «Une délicatesse printannière» Au nez, une pureté typique de Beychevelle, de très beaux arômes de fruits bleus frais, de fleurs sauvages à vous faire défaillir, de foin, avec une délicatesse printannière. En bouche une puissance, une intensité, une complexité qui se déploie en cercles concentriques, comme lorsqu'on jette une pierre dans un étang : mûres, épices orientales, moka, sans aucune lourdeur, avec une texture qui s'impose tout en légèreté. 96-98 lefigaro.fr (Mei 2021) 95-97 Yohan Castaing - anthocyanes.fr (Mei 2021) 97 Terre des Vins (Mei 2021) 95-96 Bettane & Desseauve (Mei 2021) BeychevelleDe kwaliteitssprong is een feit. Beychevelle was altijd al gekend voor souplesse (met minder Cabernet Sauvignon in assemblage), maar blinkt hij nu ook “academisch” uit. Het terroir van Graves is beplant met 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc en 3% Petit Verdot tegen 9.000 wijnstokken per hectare die gemiddeld 35 jaar oud zijn. De vinificatie gebeurt parcellair in de nieuwe cuverie met conische inox cuves (sinds 2016), waar geen pomp meer aan te pas komt. Romain Ducolomb kwam over van Clinet als technisch directeur. Samen met Philippe Blanc verricht hij wonderen. Eric Boissenot is de oenoloog. Suntory en Pierre Castel zijn elk voor de helft eigenaar. Het wereldberoemd etiket met de drakar is iconisch. Chinezen kennen Beychevelle als de “dragon boat wine” en zijn er tuk op. Château Beychevelle est un prestigieux Cru Classé à l’âme forgée par trois siècles d’histoire. Sous Henri II, Beychevelle fut le fief des ducs d’Epernon. Le premier d’entre eux, Jean-Louis Nogaret de La Valette, grand amiral de France, est à l’origine du nom du Domaine. Selon la légende, les navires passant devant son château devaient baisser leurs voiles en signe d’allégeance, d’où le nom de Beychevelle : baisse voile. Edifié en 1757, le château Beychevelle figure toujours parmi les fleurons du Bordelais. L’élégance de son architecture se reflète dans ses vins, résultat d’une recherche constante de l’équilibre entre puissance et raffinement. La politique de respect de l’environnement et de la santé humaine menée depuis plusieurs années lui a valu dès 2005 une qualification au titre de « l’Agriculture Raisonnée » et une attestation de conformité au cahier des charges «Terra Vitis ». |