Château Branaire-Ducru 2022
St-Julien 4ème Grand Cru Classé
Bordeaux, France
Regular price£237.00
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Arriving: May 2025
| Style: Red | Packaging: OWC |
| ABV: 0.0% | Closure: Cork |
| Organic: | Drink from: 2030 |
| Biodynamic: | Drink to: 2055 |
| Grapes: 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot | |
Critic scores
96 RP, 96 NM, 95 AG, 96 JS, 95-97 JD, 94-96 LPB, 16+ JR, 96 JA
Critic reviews
"The 2022 Branaire-Ducru has turned out just as brilliantly as I had hoped. Offering up a deep bouquet of crème de cassis and blackberries mingled with pencil shavings, burning embers and cigar box, it's medium to full-bodied, velvety and unctuous, with a rich core of fruit, lively acids and sweet structuring tannins. Iterated and complete, it concludes with a long, broad finish. This blend of 60.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31.5% Merlot, 5.5% Cabernet Franc and 2.5% Petit Verdot is worth a special effort to seek out."
William Kelley, March 2025, RobertParker.com
"The 2022 Branaire Ducru, bottled mid-June, was one of the most impressive I tasted from barrel. It retains a wonderful bouquet with more red fruit compared to its peers, hints of iodine and a touch of desiccated orange peel. The wine shows fine, almost clinical delineation. It is medium-bodied with an extremely well balanced palate, slightly powdery tannins and a sense of tension and brightness that, like some of the best Saint-Juliens in 2022, puts it above the 2019 or 2020. Quite linear and mineral-driven towards the sapid finish, this is a classic Branaire-Ducru that will age with style in bottle."
Neal Martin, February 2025, Vinous.com
"The 2022 Branaire-Ducru is a dense, plush wine, atypically so for a Saint-Julien that is usually more reserved. Unctuous in feel, with superb balance, the 2022 Branaire-Ducru is quite the extrovert. Soft contours wrap around a core of dark cherry, plum, mocha, new leather, espresso and licorice. Yields were 33HL per hectare, lower than the historical norm here in the upper 30s/lower 40s because of stress on the vines. The 2022 spent 16 months in French oak, with 60% new wood. This is a decidedly exotic Branaire-Ducru. I can't wait to see how it ages. Tasted two times."
Antonio Galloni, January 2025, Vinous.com
"As ever an understated classified wine, not pushing too far even among the exuberance of 2022, instead delivering fragrant, peony-laced cassis fruits laced with slate and graphite. An exceptional example of this property. Owner François-Xavier Maroteaux."
Jane Anson, March 2025, JaneAnson.com
William Kelley, March 2025, RobertParker.com
"The 2022 Branaire Ducru, bottled mid-June, was one of the most impressive I tasted from barrel. It retains a wonderful bouquet with more red fruit compared to its peers, hints of iodine and a touch of desiccated orange peel. The wine shows fine, almost clinical delineation. It is medium-bodied with an extremely well balanced palate, slightly powdery tannins and a sense of tension and brightness that, like some of the best Saint-Juliens in 2022, puts it above the 2019 or 2020. Quite linear and mineral-driven towards the sapid finish, this is a classic Branaire-Ducru that will age with style in bottle."
Neal Martin, February 2025, Vinous.com
"The 2022 Branaire-Ducru is a dense, plush wine, atypically so for a Saint-Julien that is usually more reserved. Unctuous in feel, with superb balance, the 2022 Branaire-Ducru is quite the extrovert. Soft contours wrap around a core of dark cherry, plum, mocha, new leather, espresso and licorice. Yields were 33HL per hectare, lower than the historical norm here in the upper 30s/lower 40s because of stress on the vines. The 2022 spent 16 months in French oak, with 60% new wood. This is a decidedly exotic Branaire-Ducru. I can't wait to see how it ages. Tasted two times."
Antonio Galloni, January 2025, Vinous.com
"As ever an understated classified wine, not pushing too far even among the exuberance of 2022, instead delivering fragrant, peony-laced cassis fruits laced with slate and graphite. An exceptional example of this property. Owner François-Xavier Maroteaux."
Jane Anson, March 2025, JaneAnson.com
Shipping duty paid to Mainland UK is charged at a flat rate of £9.99 per consignment and POA for Northern Ireland or Islands.
Shipping under bond is dependant on location, but starts at £15 per consignment.