Duluc de Branaire-Ducru 2018 Saint Julien 《WC Selection - ZF959A》

Jean-Baptiste Braneyre, the first person toown the estate in 1680, was well aware of the superb wine growing potential of the gravelly soil located a stone’s throw from the Gironde estuary. The 1855 classification was later to confirm the quality of our terroir.

Branaire-Ducru and its prestigious neighbours form a group of châteaux that are famous the world over for their excellent wines.

In 1988, our family group asked me to write a new page in the history of this great growth. We defined the spirit in which we wanted to do this from the very first: to make quality an absolute priority and to do everything possible to express Branaire-Ducru’s intrinsic personality and complexity. `Composed primarily of Cabernet Sauvignon, our wines express their character year in, year out with great regularity, displaying an enormous amount of fruit, freshness, and subtlety. The winemaking team is fully devoted to highlighting these characteristics in every vintage, and Branaire-Ducru is invariably an elegant wine and a quintessential Saint-Julien.

We are delighted whenever we think about the pleasure and emotions Branaire-Ducru provides to wine enthusiasts around the world.。

Château Branaire-Ducru is located in the heart of the Medoc, between Margaux and Pauillac in the Saint-Julien appellation area. It is surrounded by the other great Classified Growths that populate this outstanding terroir.

The vines grow in a mixture of gravel and pebbles, deposited there by the River Garonne in the Quaternary Period. From the top of their hillocks, called “mounds”, they overlook the vast Gironde Estuary, locally referred to as “the river”.

The vineyard is made up of around fifteen different micro-terroirs and covers 60 hectares (nearly 150 acres) that lie from East to West across the Southern part of the appellation area.

The average age of the vines is 35 years. They grow in quaternary silicious and gravel alluvium, which makes this terroir one of the warmest in the region.

As a result, our Cabernet Sauvignon grapes achieve perfect phenolic ripeness here, while the Merlot flourishes on beds of clay.

In 1991, as a pioneer of its kind, Château Branaire-Ducru acquired a modern gravity-fed vat room, eliminating the need to pump out grapes and allowing parcel-by-parcel vinification thanks to its 28 vats (10 vats were added in 2010).

Today, François-Xavier Maroteaux is pursuing this approach with the opening of a new 100% gravity-fed vat room with 65 suspended vats from the 2022 vintage.

【 James Sucking 92 pts】

Plenty of savory fruit with tobacco and chocolate. Medium body. Creamy, fine texture. Juicy and delicious already

【Wine Spectator 90 pts】

 is a medium-bodied Saint-Julien Bordeaux with notes of blackcurrant, plum, and dark cherry, described as elegant and charming with a finish of sweet kirsch. The wine is known for its purity, freshness, and soft tannins, and it pairs well with meats like beef or lamb.