2023 Chateau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Josephine's third vintage since arriving here, the 2023 Château Beausejour (Duffau-Lagarrosse) sports a deep ruby hue as well as a gorgeous nose of ripe black raspberries, cassis, smoky tobacco, crushed stone-like limestone, and floral nuances. It's medium to full-bodied and has a seamless, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It's an ultra-classic Beausejour that readers will love to have in the cellar. It already offers pleasure yet will keep for 30+ years if you're so inclined. It's just a complete, layered, absolutely classy wine. I'll be a buyer. Drink 2026-2056.

Joséphine Duffau Lagarrosse's third vintage at this terrific hillside terroir is her most impressive to date. The 2023 Beauséjour (Duffau Lagarrosse) offers up aromas of black raspberries mulberries violets spices and incense followed by a medium to full-bodied deep and layered palate that's seamless suave and concentrated with lively acids beautiful purity of fruit and a long mineral gently balsamic finish. It's a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc picked on nine days between September 13 and October 3. Duffau Lagarrosse's work on oak selection (she favors Burgundy's cooperage Cadus among others) has delivered much more seamless integration at this early stage and her attentive approach to extraction is already bearing fruit in the form of tannins that are more polished and refined than was formerly the case at this address. It's a brilliant effort from a property with almost limitless potential.

The purity of fruit is impressive here, with raspberry, blueberry and mineral character. It’s so precise and focused with medium body and lovely length.

The 2023 Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse was picked from September 13 to 29 for the Merlot and October 2 and 3 for the Cabernet Franc at 46h:/ha. It matured in 61% new oak. This is the last vintage to be made in the old vat room the new one due to be completed in July. Allowing the barrel sample five minutes to open it has a very succinct bouquet predominantly red fruit with light loamy and crushed stone aromas a touch of wilted rose petal in the background. The palate is very fresh on the entry with finely chiseled tannins. There is a lot of mineralité here deriving from the vineyard's limestone terroir and the tongue tingles in the mouth (not unlike actually licking limestone!) Quite linear chalky and tensile toward the finish this is a finely tuned and complex wine that is in the similar style of say Canon. It's not as audacious as the previous vintage but potentially more cerebral.

The 2023 Beauséjour-Duffau is a powerful resonant wine. In this early tasting it does not feel totally put-together but this sample shows good depth and plenty of potential. The 2023 is 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc more Franc than in the past. That choice lends gorgeous aromatic presence but also more structure. This is going to be a fascinating wine to follow. Drink 2030-2053.