2012 Château Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse, St Emilion, Bordeaux

2012 Château Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Product: 20128012270
Prices start from £355.00 per case Buying options
2012 Château Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse, St Emilion, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
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Description

Charming, pretty dark fruit shows expectantly on the nose with notes of violets and a savoury hint adding to the mix. The 87% Merlot unsurprisingly dominates the palate, but it is still very elegant and fine. Not a blockbuster by any means, but fine, regal fruit and notes of oak lead onto the finish with ripe, fine tannins and crisp acidity.
Martyn Rolph, Private Account Manager

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate94+/100
This is undeniably one of the great terroirs in all of Bordeaux, with a beautiful southerly exposure sitting on pure limestone. The 2012 (14.3% alcohol) displays chalky, dusty minerality, black raspberry and blueberry fruit, medium to full body, delicate, well-integrated tannins, and a lush, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel. It is not going to make anyone forget the prodigious 2009 and 2010, but the 2012 exhibits its high-class nobility from this fabulous terroir. Drink it over the next 20 years. Yields were tiny 23 hectoliters per hectare and the final blend 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 30/04/2015 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW17+/20
The ripest of the Nicolas Thienpont line-up so far. Ripe sweet cherry. Merlot energy and generosity. Rich but held in check by the finesse of the tannins and the freshness. Lovely and long too. All well judged. But has the firmness and freshness for a good long life.
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com, 26 Apr 2013 Read more
Wine Spectator91-94/100
Quite juicy, with notes of anise, blackberry, blueberry and raspberry all wrangling with one another, while singed wood spice and licorice snap fill out the finish. A touch chewy and briary in the end, but there’s ample fruit in reserve.
James Molesworth, Wine Spectator, April 8 2013 Read more
Robert Parker93-95+/100
The 2012 exhibits a black/purple color along with a striking nose of incense, spring flowers, blueberries, blackberries and hints of mulberries and crushed chalk. The sumptuous aromatics are followed by a full-bodied, super-concentrated, rich, layered wine that builds incrementally across the palate, finishing with an explosion of fruit, spice, tannin, glycerin and minerality. While neither as backward nor impenetrable as the 2009 and 2010, the 2012 should be approachable in 4-5 years and keep for 2-3 decades.

A massive, concentrated effort from this great terroir, the 2012 Beausejour Duffau comes from a 16+-acre vineyard located on the clay and limestone southern slopes of St.-Emilion. It was cropped at 23 hectoliters per hectare, and the final blend was 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc. Only 66% of the production went into the top wine, which boasts 14.3% natural alcohol. Readers can usually count on this cuvee being one of the finest wines of the vintage given the talented team behind it, Nicolas Thienpont, Stephane Derenoncourt, David Suire and Julien Lavenu.
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - Apr 2013 Read more
Decanter17.25/20
Deep colour. Dense fruit on the nose. Palate ripe and plush but good acidity and freshness. Great definition.
James Lawther MW, Decanter, April 2013 Read more

About this WINE

Château Beauséjour

Château Beauséjour

Château Beauséjour is a 6.8-hectare jewel long recognised for the quality of its terroir; it has been a Premier Grand Cru Classé B since the first St Émilion classification. Almost half the vineyard sits atop the appellation’s limestone plateau, another half extends down onto the côtes. This was once part of a larger estate along with what is now Château Beau-Séjour Bécot.

In 2020, the estate was put up for sale. There were many bidders; the French authorities were called upon to oversee the final decision. Ultimately, members of the Duffau-Lagarrosse family bid successfully, in tandem with the owners of the Clarins beauty group.

The estate is today led by Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse and Prisca Courtin-Clarins, both of whom are in their early 30s. They took the reins with the 2021 vintage, following the acclaimed stewardship of Nicolas Thienpont and his team.

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St Émilion

St Émilion

St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. 

St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel. 

Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol.  Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.  

In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices.  The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.

St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012

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Merlot

Merlot

The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.

In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.

Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.

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