2019 Amiral de Beychevelle, St Julien, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2019 Amiral de Beychevelle has a well-defined bouquet with perfumed blackberry, bilberry and cedar scents, quite focused and demonstrating more precision than its peers. The palate is well balanced with firm tannins, dense black fruit, and just a subtle herbal element towards the finish that imparts freshness. (I believe that will assimilate with bottle age).
Cellar this for 4-5 years at least. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Drink 2026 - 2040
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (February 2023)
Lovely intensity on the nose, aromatic and expressive. Smooth and high-toned on the palate, bright with a classy shine to the black fruits. I really love the aromatics on the profile here; you get that perfume and gloss with depth and soft tannins. Easy-drinking second wine, easy to recommend.
Drink 2025 - 2042
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (January 2022)
The second wine of this terrific estate located on the southern edge of Saint-Julien, the 2019 Amiral De Beychevelle sports a dense purple hue to go with ripe black (and some blue) fruits, notes of tobacco leaf, cedar, and damp earth, medium-bodied richness, and a plush, round, sexy mouthfeel. It's beautifully balanced and well worth drinking.
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (April 2022)
About this WINE
Chateau Beychevelle
Château Beychevelle is a 4ème Cru Classé St-Julien wine property that boasts one of the most impressive châteaux in the whole of the Médoc. Its label depicts a beautiful galley with a large sail, as a consequence of its ownership in the 16th century by the Duc d`Eperon, Admiral of France at the time. The expression "Baisse-Vaille", meaning "lower sails", later evolved into the name Beychevelle. Today the property is owned by Grands Millésimesde France.
Beychevelle's 85 hectares of vineyards are located in the far south of the St-Julien appellation, just outside the hamlet of St-Julien-Beychevelle. The wine is typically a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. It is matured in oak barrels (50-60% new) for 18 months. It is renowned for its suppleness, smoothness and its rich, and sometimes chocolatey character.
The best examples from the best Beychevelle vintages are powerful and concentrated, with oodles of almost sweet, ultra-ripe Cabernet fruit, and can age effortlessly.
St Julien
St Julien is the smallest of the "Big Four" Médoc communes. Although, without any First Growths, St Julien is recognised to be the most consistent of the main communes, with several châteaux turning out impressive wines year after year.
St Julien itself is much more of a village than Pauillac and almost all of the notable properties lie to its south. Its most northerly château is Ch. Léoville Las Cases (whose vineyards actually adjoin those of Latour in Pauillac) but, further south, suitable vineyard land gives way to arable farming and livestock until the Margaux appellation is reached.
The soil is gravelly and finer than that of Pauillac, and without the iron content which gives Pauillac its stature. The homogeneous soils in the vineyards (which extend over a relatively small area of just over 700 hectares) give the commune a unified character.
The wines can be assessed as much by texture as flavour, and there is a sleek, wholesome character to the best. Elegance, harmony and perfect balance and weight, with hints of cassis and cedar, are what epitomise classic St Julien wines. At their very best they combine Margaux’s elegance and refinement with Pauillac’s power and substance.
Ch. Léoville Las Cases produces arguably the most sought-after St Julien, and in any reassessment of the 1855 Classification it would almost certainly warrant being elevated to First Growth status.
Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Léoville Las Cases, Ch.Léoville Barton, Ch Léoville Poyferré, Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou, Ch Langoa Barton, Ch Gruaud Larose, Ch. Branaire-Ducru, Ch. Beychevelle
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
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Description
This is the second wine of Château Beychevelle, one of the best-known Classified Growths in Bordeaux. The excellent 2019 vintage marked director Philippe Blanc’s 25th year at the property. The blend is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon and 32% Merlot.
The wine is wonderfully fresh with an impressive depth of flavour, making it a joy to open even now in its youth. Rich dark cherry, blackcurrant and cedar notes combine beautifully in the glass. There is great structure here, with firm, ripe tannins and mouthwatering acidity.
Drink now to 2035
Olly Hallworth, Buying Assistant, Berry Bros. & Rudd (October 2023)
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