2021 Château Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse, 1er Grand Cru Classé St-Emilion

The 2021 Beauséjour-Duffau, which was previously Duffau-Lagarrosse, has developed a lovely bouquet that builds on the promise I found from barrel. The Cabernet Franc (27%) lends this complexity, adding dark berry fruit, licorice and a touch of black truffle that becomes more accentuated with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and fine depth, showing a touch of dark chocolate on the entry, white pepper and clove. It tapers ever so slightly toward the saline finish, likely because of the growing season more than anything else. This will require three or four years in bottle, but it should cruise nicely for 20 years.

The 2021 Beauséjour-Duffau (formerly Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse) is a gorgeous, refined wine. Silky, aromatic and wonderfully pure, the 2021 is super-impressive right out of the gate. All the elements are so well balanced. Dark cherry, pomegranate, spice and rose petal take shape in the glass, but more than anything, the 2021 is a wine of total finesse.

The 2021 Beauséjour (Duffau Lagarrosse) is the first vintage made by Joséphine Duffau Lagarrosse since she took back control of the family estate (arriving on April 12, 2021), and both the vintage and her vision for the property aligned to favor a blend of 73% Merlot and 27% Cabernet Franc—the highest percentage of Cabernet since the early 2000s (when some Cabernet Sauvignon was included in the blend too). The wine has turned out very well in bottle, offering up aromas of raspberries and cherries mingled with rose petals and spices, framed by a touch of creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, pure and layered, it exhibits excellent depth at the core, built around lively acids and polished tannins, and concludes with a long, mineral and gently vanillin-inflected finish that's discreetly structured by its élevage. This wonderful clay-limestone terroir really shines through, as does the Cabernet Franc; and with some 68% new oak, foremost from Cadus and Taransaud, it's already less overtly creamy than this estate's wines were a decade ago, even if oak integration could be further refined.