2021 Branaire Ducru

66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 6.5% Cabernet Franc and 5.5% Petit Verdot. Fairly deep crimson. Very St-Julien in terms of balance with some savour and much more integrated than many 2021s. Not a long-distance player but nicely balanced, like the two succeeding vintages. Glossy. Lovely texture. A very good 2021. (JR)

Ripe black cherries, leafy underbrush, cedar, and some earthy notes all emerge from the 2021 Château Branaire-Ducru, a more medium-bodied, focused, leaner Saint-Julien that still has ripe tannins and good density. Give it a few years, and if it gains a touch of weight, it might ultimately end up warranting another point or so. The blend is two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

The 2021 Branaire Ducru, one of the smallest crops in recent years (32.5hL/ha) was bottled in early June. It has a clean and precise bouquet: blackberry, cedar, light pencil box scents and just a faint touch of undergrowth. It's certainly classic in style, yet displays more precision than you would have found in a Branaire a decade ago. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. Again, black fruit comes to the fore—graphite-infused black fruit, with a little more salinity than I recall from barrel. There’s a pleasing strictness here; the 2021 is linear, without the frills of the 2019 or 2020. Yet for those seeking traditional claret, this will fit the bill perfectly. Drink it over the next 20-25 years.