Château Branaire-Ducru 2018

The refinement and generosity of a great red wine from Saint-Julien

The property

Classified as a Grand Cru in 1855, the Château Branaire-Ducru is one of the great names of the Saint-Julien appellation. Owned by François Xavier Maroteaux, the son of the late Patrick Maroteaux, and managed by Jean-Dominique Videau, Château Branaire-Ducru offers, vintage after vintage, a superb expression of this great terroir on the left bank of Bordeaux with crus recognized for their elegance, their velvety texture on the palate and their consistency.

The vineyard

Château Branaire-Ducru is a Saint-Julien wine from a 60-hectare vineyard. The vines, which are on average 35 years old (although some are a century old), are planted on Quaternary gravel-siliceous alluvial soils, recognized as one of the warmest terroirs in the region, allowing late grape varieties to develop while ensuring perfect phenolic ripening.

The vintage

2018 was a vintage that required rigor and constant investment. A first part of the season was humid, followed by a second part with ideal conditions. Château Branaire-Ducru was thus able to benefit from the essential markers of a great vintage: homogeneous flowering, hot and dry summer with significant water reserves, harvest under dry weather and significant diurnal temperature ranges. Maturity is optimal and a great vintage is shaping up from the first harvested grapes.

Blend

Cabernet sauvignon (58%)
Merlot (33%)
Petit verdot (5%)
Cabernet franc (4%).

Characteristics and tasting advice for Château Branaire-Ducru 2018

Tasting

Colour
The colour is of a beautiful intensity.

Nose
Aromatic, the nose reveals with great freshness delicious notes of ripe fruits.

Palate
The perfect balance between maturity and freshness is one of the characteristics of this vintage. Precise, powerful and fleshy, the palate seduces with its refined density as well as its refreshing acidity stretching to a finish of beautiful persistence.