Chateau Beychevelle 2020

Professional Ratings

• 97 Jeb Dunnuck
  The Grand Vin 2020 Château Beychevelle is a tiny selection representing just 55% of the total production of the estate. The blend is 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot which spent 18 months in 70% new French oak, hitting 13.5% natural alcohol. Surpassing both the 2016 and 2018, this inky-hued Saint-Julien offers a round, lush, full-bodied style as well as gorgeous aromatics of black cherries, blueberries, loamy earth, chocolate, and spring flowers. The vintage doesn't get any sexier, and this has sweet tannins, an opulent mouthfeel, and riveting purity and finesse. While it already offers pleasure, it's going to benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age and keep for 25+.
• 96 Decanter
  Scented and perfumed - violet tones, almost a touch of liqueur fruit to the nose, aromatic with dark chocolate touches too. Bright and shining, this is sleek, quite delicately displayed in terms of texture but this has layers of savoury elements - liquorice, clove, tobacco with bright red fruits and dark bramble fruits. Clean and compelling. Well made with tons of confidence. So complete, juicy in a heady seductive way, this is deeply scented, driven and brooding but perfectly weighted to keep the right side of being too heavy. Refreshing but devilishly charming - it leaves a clean feeling in the mouth where you just want to taste it again.
• 95 Wine Enthusiast
  The wine's structure and serious tannins are, happily, balanced by the rich generosity of the fruit flavors. Together, the two elements of this very fine wine will allow it to develop with weight and concentration.
  Barrel Sample: 94-96
• 94 James Suckling
  A very polished and refined 2020 with a medium body, integrated tannins and a pretty texture. Nice currant, light chocolate and cedar undertones. Fresh finish.
• 94 Wine Spectator
  Delivers vivid fruit, with an eye-catching beam of cassis, kirsch and plum sauce notes that flow through nicely, supported by a light brambly edge and a well-inlaid graphite spine. The finish is scored by violet and anise as the fruit lingers. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2027 through 2037.
• 93 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  Rich and muscular, the 2020 Beychevelle offers up aromas of cassis, blackberries and baked plums mingled with notions of spices, pencil shavings and toasty new oak. Medium to full-bodied, thick and fleshy, with an ample core of fruit framed by powdery, generously extracted tannins that assert themselves on the finish, this is a more powerful, chunky Beychevelle than the suave 2019. Rating: 93+