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On the seventh day of Christmas
A ‘brilliant wine from a truly top terroir’, which has been somewhat under the radar in recent years is the choice for the seventh day of our festive fine wine compilation.
The wine: Château Beauséjour 2021
Format: 6 bottles in their original wooden case (about which more below) of Château Beauséjour 2021.
Unique selling point: The first vintage under Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse’s full direction of the exceptionally well-situated tiny jewel that is the Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru B Classé Château Beauséjour (as it is now known). To mark this first release and the Château’s new identity, 2021 is the first vintage under the new label and it is also the first to be offered in the newly redesigned (and, frankly, rather gorgeous) six-bottle original wooden case that will be used from now on. As my true love knows well, I’m a bit of sucker for wooden cases; but I’m even more of a sucker for this wine in this often rather under-appreciated vintage!
Yours for: This can be found from many a London-based broker or merchant, with Berry Bros. & Rudd currently offering it at £669 in bond for a case (yes, that case!) of six bottles.
Tasting note:
Château Beauséjour 2021 (St Emilion; 63% Merlot; 27% Cabernet Franc; a fantastically well-situated vineyard of 6.8 hectares on the argilo-calcaire côtes and plateau neighbouring Angélus, Bélair-Monange, Clos Saint Martin and Beauséjour Bécot; aged in oak barrels, 68% of which were new; 13.5% alcohol). Just fabulous. A brilliant wine from a truly top terroir. Cassis, a little red cherry; mulberries and that wonderful cooler vintage Cabernet Franc. This is beautifully precise, pure, lifted and focussed – almost crystalline (more 2019 than 2020). It has lovely quite crumbly limestone tannins, just a touch of oak influence at this stage (reinforcing the slight natural spiciness and white pepper notes of the terroir). The combination of cool cedar with the dark, almost herbal, leafy, purple Cabernet Franc fruit is exquisite. Elegant, gracious and beautifully sculpted by the grain of the chalky tannins, this is an object lesson in terroir and Cabernet Franc. One of the finest wines of an under appreciated vintage without any shadow of doubt. 97.
*while the seventh day is actually New Year’s Eve, the db offices will be shut between Christmas and New Year, so publishing in advance should give you time to get organised and stock up!
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Château Beauséjour: entering a new era
Château Beauséjour to remain in the Duffau-Lagarrosse family