1982 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Saint-Julien, Case of 6 btls [rebouche 2011]

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou takes its name from the "beautiful stones," beaux cailloux, of its deep gravel terroir in Saint-Julien, soil that provides exceptional drainage and has helped the estate produce wines of remarkable elegance and longevity for three centuries.

The 1982 predates the Borie family's most dramatic modern improvements, but it remains one of the vintage's defining Left Bank successes, a wine critics consistently rank among the finest examples of 1982 Bordeaux, with some suggesting it may one day rival the estate's legendary 1961.

Now more than four decades from harvest, it's fully mature and drinking in its prime, still carrying real structure and freshness rather than any sign of decline.

These bottles were part of Bruno Borie's 2011 rebouche program, in which the estate recorked, relabeled, and verified fill levels across its library stock, a meaningful assurance of quality for a wine this age. Offered in its original 6-bottle wooden case, these are pristine bottles with the provenance serious collectors look for.

Jeb Dunnuck | 97 Points

"The finest bottle I’ve had of this wine (which came from the estate), the 1982 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou continues to drink brilliantly and is a magical Saint-Julien. Still healthy ruby hued with a mature yet insanely complex bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, cedary herbs, graphite, tobacco, and forest floor, it’s powerful yet seamless on the palate, with resolved tannins, no hard edges, and a fabulous finish. This is mature Bordeaux in all its glory."

John Gilman | 97 Points

"The 1982 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou remains one of the very finest wines of the vintage on the Left Bank and it is just now starting to blossom properly and hit on all cylinders. The bouquet is pure and displays First Growth depth and complexity, soaring from the glass in a fine constellation of sweet cassis and dark berries, a very complex base of gravelly soil tones, Cuban cigar wrapper, gentle smokiness and a deftly turned base of smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and sappy at the core, with stellar focus and balance, still a touch of ripe tannin perking up the backend and a very, very long, refined and complex finish. This is a great, great vintage of Ducru that may one day rival the near perfection of the 1961."

Wine Advocate | 96 Points

"From my cellar, the 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou is one of the most youthful of the Médoc crus classés today. Unwinding in the decanter and glass with a rich bouquet of blackcurrants, licorice, cigar wrapper and loamy soil, it's full-bodied, fleshy and muscular, with a broad attack that segues into a deep core of fruit framed by ripe, powdery tannins and succulent acids. It's an unusually big-boned rendition of this elegant-styled wine, but it's no less compelling for that."