2022 Château Beychevelle, St Julien, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Of course, it is still young, but it underlines Beychevelle's success in this hot and dry vintage. It has cloves, slate, black tea, campfire, liquorice, cassis, sculpted tannins, balance, and finesse.
Drink 2029 - 2044
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (May 2024)
The 2022 Beychevelle has a succinct bouquet that has tightened up since I tasted it in barrel. It retains wonderful precision and focus, pure black fruit, black olive compote, and subtle tobacco scents. It unfurls with aeration yet doesn’t want to give too much away. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins. Like Gruaud Larose this year, a newfound sense of clarity lifts this 2022 above recent vintages. This is unequivocally one of the most elegant Beychevelles on the finish, and it lingers temptingly in the mouth. It’s a benchmark wine for this Saint-Julien—bravo to head winemaker Philippe Blanc and his team.
Drink 2030 - 2065
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (February 2025)
The 2022 Beychevelle is so impressive. A wine of precision and stature, the 2022 has so much to offer. Inky dark fruit, liquorice, mocha and lavender build in a sumptuous, creamy Saint-Julien. All of that intensity mounts through the mid-palate, reaching a stunning crescendo on the explosive, resonant finish. Even with all of its obvious intensity, the 2022 retains a gorgeous sense of freshness and vibrancy.
Drink 2030 - 2062
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2025)
It's a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, with a pH of 3.85, quite typical for this address.
Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and cassis mingled with hints of violets and licorice, framed by creamy new oak, the 2022 Beychevelle is medium to full-bodied, velvety and layered, with a fleshy core of fruit framed by rich, unusually suave and polished tannins in the context of recent vintages at this address.
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (April 2023)
54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot.
High-toned. Very solid! Quite savoury and appetising with, obviously, lots of work on the tannins. Really very well balanced and with freshness and inkiness rather than heaviness. Long!
Drink 2030 - 2048
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (December 2024)
54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot.
Intense blackberries and blackcurrants with spice and lead-pencil aromas. Medium-bodied, it has creamy and polished tannins and a long and flavorful finish. The cabernet sauvignon is singing here. Give it three to five years of bottle age.
Best after 2028
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (January 2025)
A yield of 36hl/ha
Supple, rich, and velvety, this wine has a great delineation of tannins and fruit, with creamy blueberries and cola touches alongside savoury elements of dark chocolate, liquorice, and salt. Structured, fresh, and well-worked, this feels sophisticated, focused, and confident. It’s missing a touch of acidity, but it has plenty of polish, seduction, and potential to age.
Drink 2025 - 2045
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (April 2023)
I was able to taste the 2022 Château Beychevelle on multiple occasions, and it never failed to impress me. Based on 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot that will see 18 months in 70% new oak, it’s one of those wines that makes you stop and say “wow” due to its purity, depth, and texture. Sporting a dense purple hue and lots of blueberry and black cherry fruits, it’s full-bodied and has a layered, seamless mouthfeel, building yet gorgeous tannins and subtle background notes of crushed violets, flowers, and graphite. This is a sensational effort from director Philippe Blanc.
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (May 2023)
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.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The 2022 Beychevelle has a succinct bouquet that has tightened up since I tasted it in barrel. It retains wonderful precision and focus, pure black fruit, black olive compote, and subtle tobacco scents. It unfurls with aeration yet doesn’t want to give too much away. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins. Like Gruaud Larose this year, a newfound sense of clarity lifts this 2022 above recent vintages. This is unequivocally one of the most elegant Beychevelles on the finish, and it lingers temptingly in the mouth. It’s a benchmark wine for this Saint-Julien—bravo to head winemaker Philippe Blanc and his team.
Drink 2030 - 2065
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (February 2025)
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