Chateau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse 2014

JAMES SUCKLING: "So layered with a lovely richness of chocolate, wet earth and spices, not to mention plum character. Full-bodied, tight and focused. Needs five to six years to open, but it’s a structured and beautiful wine already."

WEINWISSER: "95 % Merlot, 5 % Cabernet Franc. Produktion ca. 17'000 Flaschen. Sattes Purpur-Granat, dicht in der Mitte, lila Schimmer aussen. Das Bouquet beginnt mit floralen Noten, wechselt dann zu Waldbeeren und zeigt eine minime, aber wirklich nur minime kompottartige Süsse. Im Innern und im Untergrund mit schönen Würznoten bestückt. Samtiger Gaumen, die schmeichelnden Tannine sind in den Samtpfoten drin, langes aromatisches Finale. War er in der Nase vielleicht im ersten Moment etwas schwierig anzugehen, so offenbart er im Gaumen seine Grösse und Klasse. Dieser BDL ist nicht mit seinen heissen und extrem hoch gelobten Jahrgängen 1990 und 2009 zu vergleichen. Aber das hindert mich nicht, ihn als fast ganz grossen Premier zu loben. Das wird ein Fest in etwa 12 Jahren."

JEB DUNNUCK: "While I wasn’t able to taste the 2015, the 2014 Château Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse is fabulous stuff and well worth seeking out. Made from close to 100% Merlot (there’s a splash of Cabernet Franc) and offering classic notes of damp earth, tobacco leaf, blackcurrants, and beautiful minerality, this beauty hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a terrific core of fruit, and more texture and opulence than most in the vintage. It will keep for 20-25 years."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "A precocious vintage to enjoy while waiting for the 09, 10, 12, 15 and 16 to develop, the wine is medium/full bodied, smoky earthy, fresh and plummy. However, even though this is going to drink well early, it still needs another 5 years for the juicy plums to combine with all the secondary potential found here."

WINE SPECTATOR: "This is full of muscular graphite and tobacco notes, holding sway over a core of slightly exotic mulled fig and warm black currant sauce. A ganache edge lines the finish, but a pure fruit detail echoes longest. This will be exceptional when the elements meld fully. Best from 2022 through 2035."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2014 Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse) was an intriguing and quite mercurial Saint Emilion when I tasted it from barrel. Now in bottle, it has developed a quite compelling bouquet, very pure with black cherries, iodine, potpourri and crushed violets. The intensity is very impressive. The palate is medium-bodied with almost rigid tannin. This is a masculine wine, perhaps one that has closed down after bottle since it was so expressive from barrel. It is much more linear than I was expecting, even with a touch of hardness on the finish. It is a rather enigmatic Saint Emilion, one tricky to pin down at the moment. Hopefully more flesh will surface with bottle age and just balance out that strict finish. Let's see where this will go. Certainly I would not broach this for a few years."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Tasted blind. Lively, well-balanced and well-behaved nose. Thick and confident. Lots of length but a bit Oxford marmalade-like. Overall satisfying though. Youthful."

DECANTER: "Another Roederer-owned St Estèphe property at the time, although it was sold to the owner of Laffitte-Carcasset in 2017. It displays good quality plump, fresh red fruits, fairly restrained at first but slowly building alongside the tannins - you can feel those black spices and red fruits beginning to uncurl. Wait a few more years before opening. Drinking Window 2020 - 2032"