This Ducru Beaucaillou 1996 is one of my all time favorites. And wouldn't you want to drink that from a bottle of this fabulous size! What an incredibly beautiful wine: it has everything you would want from a grand vin: It's subtle while showing true richness with great complexity. It has flowers like only a top St-Julien can show, a smorgasboard of fruits, from strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and meanwhile maintains a freshness that makes this a wonderful Saint-Julien. One of the very best!

| Eugene Bergen

I tasted the 1996 Ducru Beaucaillou on four separate occasions from bottle in January. The 1996 is long, with a deep mid-palate. It also reveals tannin in the finish. This wine is remarkable. It is muscular, concentrated, and classic. Bottled in late June, 1998, it exhibits a saturated ruby/purple color, as well as a knock-out nose of minerals, licorice, cassis, and an unmistakable lead pencil smell. It is sweet and full-bodied, yet unbelievably rich with no sense of heaviness or flabbiness. The wine possesses high tannin, but it is extremely ripe, and the sweetness of the black currant, spice-tinged Cabernet Sauvignon fruit is pronounced. This profound, backward Ducru-Beaucaillou is a must purchase. It will be fascinating for readers who own the 1996 to follow the evolution of this exceptional vintage.

| Robert Parker