Château Beau-Séjour Bécot 2005

Offers aromas of blackberry, coffee and tar, with a full body, silky tannins and a blackberry, mineral and light vanilla aftertaste. Balanced, refined and pretty. Best after 2014. 5,830 cases made.

Very dark – black core and deep purple rim. Sweet, smoky and very ripe black fruit. Tannins dry, firm and fresh and already silky – very attractive. (JH)

The 2005 Beau-Séjour Bécot was picked between 27 September and 5 October. This has a gorgeous bouquet, probably the best that the Bécot family had made up to that point. It overflows with redcurrant, cranberry and red plum, hints of rose petal and ripe Satsuma, with the minerality tucked just underneath. The palate is medium-bodied with fine yet succulent tannins. There is a fresh line of acidity woven through dark berry fruit that counterbalances a somewhat structured finish laced with leather, allspice and just a touch of white pepper. This boasts impressive length, noticeably more than any earlier vintages. This excellent Saint-Émilion is just opening for business but should offer two decades of drinking pleasure. Tasted at the château.

Mint, tobacco, cherries, black raspberries, toffee, and espresso crowd onto the nose. Medium-bodied, fresh, reserved, with a core of bright, crunchy, salty fruit on the backend. Drink from 2024-2040.

A blend of 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2005 Beau-Sejour-Becot is another terrific 2005 that’s still young, yet offers plenty of pleasure. Crème de cassis, graphite and chocolate characteristics all emerge from this broad, fabulously pure, concentrated beauty. It’s just at the early stages of its drinking plateau and has another 2-3 decades of prime drinking ahead of it. Bravo!

Deep ruby-purple. Perfumed wild-berry bouquet, powerful and fairly profound. Compact, fine yet characterful palate, noble astringency with well-supporting tannins, blueberry-driven aromatics, promising potential. 08: Lots of cassis and elderberry, comes across as perfumed. On the palate, grainy with a certain hardness. (18/20). 14: ??? We had five bottles in circulation. Either stewed or even oxidized. Was the case improperly stored? Otherwise that would be a disaster.

Dense, sweet, velvety bouquet with mixed berries, blackberries, cherries. Fruity, concentrated, bourgeois palate with plenty of tannins, dense fruit and firm structure. Powerful finish. 18/20 2014 - 2025

Opaque color, noticeable oak, good volume with generous, indulgent fruit that is intense and fresh.

I couldn't believe it! During a lunch, this wine was served to me blind and I tasted it poorly. Worried by the result, I asked for another bottle and... it was worse! Since then, the château has confirmed the poor evolution of this vintage. This is why, from 2017 onward, Beau Séjour Bécot is changing its entire winemaking process. To resell! Oxidative nose. Palate finishing dry.

92-94 Barrel sample. Very ripe, very soft at first taste, but there's a good punch of tannins and a dense, intense palate. This has the ripeness of some New World wines.