| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > St Emilion |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
A beautiful wine from Beau-Séjour Bécot, the color of the 2005 is an opaque purple and the wine is loaded with notes of cedar wood, Asian spice, blackberry and cassis fruit. Full-bodied and tannic, but broad, huge, and massive, this wine is still an infant and needs another 7-10 years of cellaring. This is a 40- to 50-year wine from the Bécot family. Drink 2025 - 2075.
The Beausejour Becot 2005 appears to be on an upward curve. It has a lovely ripe nose of strawberry preserve, mulberry, sloe and a hint of game that is very well defined. The palate is medium-bodied with s ripe, rounded entry. Lush in the mouth, the pH is nicely in synch with fruit, the finish elegant and very pure. It offers lovely mocha tinged red fruit on the long persistent finish. I wonder if continued bottle age will see yet higher scores in the future? Tasted December 2012.
Tasted blind. Dark crimson with a ruby rim. Exotic brûlée nose verging on oxidised. No rough edges and lots of floral fruit with a mild inkiness on the end. Hint of meat extract. Fell apart in the glass.
Drink 2012-2022
Good ruby-red. Very ripe but lively aromas of kirsch, licorice, bitter chocolate, nuts and violet. Dense and sweet but vibrant, with a medicinal reserve and terrific grip to the superripe fruit and bitter chocolate flavors. Wonderfully rich, pliant wine with late-arriving tannins and a terrific spine for a slow evolution in bottle. Much more tightly wound today than the Becot family's La Gomerie, but there's plenty of fat fruit lurking.
Came 94th out of 184 wines
Very elegant Saint-Emilion. Good integration of oakiness, ample body, velvety texture, with a typical touch of smokiness inbuilt in the flavour, deftly integrated tannins, excellent overall balance. A classic of the vintage. Drink from 2015.
The bottled 2005 Beau Sejour Becot confirms that this is the finest effort from this estate in the thirty years I have been covering Bordeaux. A classic blend of 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, it is an intense, full-bodied St.-Emilion revealing notes of espresso roast, chocolate, blackberries, licorice, and truffles. With sweet but noticeable tannins, good acidity, and a powerful, long finish, this textbook St.-Emilion cuts a swath between the modern school of winemaking and the traditionalists. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030+.
Perhaps the finest wine this estate has made since I began my career nearly 30 years ago, the 2005 is a blend of 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon made from yields of 35 hectoliters per hectare. This is one of the few grand cru St.-Emilions that is available in reasonable quantities (6,000+ cases). Intense and rich with a tannic structure that suggests 5-7 years of cellaring will be necessary, it should keep for 25-30 years.
While there was some variation with this wine on the three separate occasions I tasted it, it is unquestionably a spectacular effort as well as one of the finest Beau Sejour-Becots made by proprietor Gerard Becot. The natural alcohol came in just under 15%, and the blend of 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon was cropped at 35 hectoliters per hectare. Despite the wine’s massiveness, intensity, and powerful, full-bodied flavors that coat the palate, there is remarkable freshness, definition, and lightness because of the vintage’s unusual combination of huge richness, incredible tannin levels, record breaking alcohol levels, and very good acids. This should turn out to be a profound St.-Emilion and may merit a score in the mid-nineties if everything goes as well as I suspect it should. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2028.
Fabulous aromas of crushed raspberry and lightly toasted oak. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and a lovely, fruity finish with dark chocolate.
Rich, savoury and meaty on the nose with some vivacity. Meat extract and a little drying on the finish but good energy. I liked this much more than I did en primeur
Blueish purple. Lightly fragrant, even slightly blossomy. Quite gentle mellifluent texture. Well balanced and expressive. Fresh and refreshing. Not overdone - good, middle of the road 2005 St-Émilion. This one dances. Fresh and springlike. Drink 2014-26
