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Goedhuis, April 2023, Score: 97-98
Josephine Duffau-Lagarrosse and her new business partner Prisca Courtin-Clarins are fast becoming the St Emilion dream team at this astonishingly positioned 6.8 hectare classified growth. In only their second vintage as partners, the 2022 is an astonishing success. 69% Merlot and 31% Cabernet Franc show the strength of the limestone soils. Dark opaque colour, wild forest and plum fruits, nutmeg, oriental spice with a delicate seam of vanilla oak. Rich and creamy, it gives the palate an amazing expression of both red and black fruits, generously exuberant, with silky tannins all held in position by a limestone mineral edge. Heavenly!
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Neal Martin, April 2023, Score: 95-97
The 2022 Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse was picked on 6-9 September for the Merlot and 23 for the Cabernet Franc, representing the highest percentage to date. It was cropped at 42hL/ha with 14.9% alcohol and a pH of 3.5. Aged in 68% new oak, it has a delicate nose that completely disguises that summer's warmth. Precise redcurrant and raspberry fruit aromas are laced with minerals. The limestone soils percolate and evince the estate's style under Joséphine Duffau Lagarrosse. It seems to deepen, to "stretch out" with aeration, manifesting more darker fruit. The palate is medium-bodied, mineral-driven and almost pastille-like in terms of purity with its mélange of red and blue fruit and granular texture. Background notes of tobacco and black truffle begin to surface with time. There's just a trace of white pepper on the finish. Precise, focused and with plenty of substance, this is a characterful and intellectually satisfying Duffau. Most importantly, not only will it be flippin' delicious, but you get the sense that Joséphine is only just getting started. Drink 2030-2065
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Antonio Galloni, April 2023, Score: 94-97
The 2022 Beauséjour Héritiers Duffau-Lagarrosse is an elegant, supremely polished wine. It is also an infant, and yet the pedigree is easy to see. Bright red/purplish fruit, rose petal, mint, chalk and white pepper lend aromatic brilliance to this understated, classy Saint-Émilion. Clean saline notes extend the finish effortlessly. I can't wait to taste this from bottle. Drink 2030-2052.
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Wine Advocate, April 2023, Score: 95-97+
The 2022 Beauséjour (Duffau Lagarrosse) promises to be the finest wine that this superb limestone terroir has produced in at least several decades. In recent years, the quality of the site always shone through, but it was sometimes obscured by an impactful vinification and élevage (plenty of creamy new oak and malolactic fermentation in barrel). Much of the estate's Cabernet Franc was frequently eliminated from the blend. Joséphine Duffau Lagarrosse has changed that, incorporating fully 31% Cabernet Franc in the blend to deliver a complex and compelling wine evocative of wild berries, plums, rose petals and violets. Medium to full-bodied, pure and vibrant, it's supple and layered, with beautifully refined tannins, terrific depth at the core and a long, chalky finish.
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James Suckling, April 2023, Score: 97-98
A beautiful and enticing red with blackberry, hazelnut, dried flower, spice and berry character. It’s full yet poised with finesse and richness while also being bright and energetic. Precise.
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Matthew Jukes, April 2023, Score: 19.5+
Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse could not hide her excitement when she presented this wine to me, and I could immediately see why. Unlike hosts of properties on both sides of the river, there was no hydric stress whatsoever in Joséphine’s dramatically positioned, limestone-soaked vineyards. The resulting wine has the most significant Cabernet Franc percentage ever at Beauséjour. With a heavenly nose and a thrilling palate, this wine prompts complete and utter elation almost immediately, and the finish is so long, keen-edged and gripping it sets this dramatic wine aside from all others. The floral overture starts with violet and peony delicacy, and this builds incrementally through the luscious, wild, berry and saline-soaked palate and onto the insanely refreshing finish. The image that came to mind when I tasted this wine was of a tightrope walker. Not a slackline walker with a pole – this would be too easy. Joséphine has managed to navigate a high-tensile steel line with no assistance whatsoever – the most difficult of all balancing acts. In 2022, she and her wine made it to the other side without missing a beat. Returning to the wine, the perfume is one of the most delicate and profound on the Right Bank. The flavour continues unabated with no diminuendo, staying with you, complete and flawless until you take another sip. Invigorating, intellectually pleasing, absurdly accurate and hear-achingly delicious, this is a nearperfect and timeless creation, and it could only ever come from this historic property perched high on Saint-Emilion’s limestone plateau.
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Jeb Dunnuck, April 2023, Score: 96-98+
The 2022 Château Beauséjour (Duffau-Lagarrosse) looks to be another brilliant wine from this incredible terroir located just outside the village of Saint-Emilion. Based on 69% Merlot and 31% Cabernet Franc resting in 68% new oak, it sports a dense purple hue as well as a floral, intense bouquet of cassis, liquid violets, black cherries, truffly earth, and graphite. Hitting 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.5, it's full-bodied and has a pure, layered, opulent mouthfeel and just about perfect tannins. There's a little bit more clay in the soils at this estate (there's still plenty of limestone) which gives the wines plenty of power and richness, and the 2022 holds onto a beautiful sense of elegance.
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Jane Anson, April 2023, Score: 98-100
Just so good, so much uplift, direction and power, with vivid violet reflections to the ruby coloured fruit. Intense and concentrated on the opening, then a soaring limestone juice comes in through the mid palate, with the whole thing showing precision and character. A jumbled, joyful mix of blueberry, cassis, peony, roses, pummice stone and slate limestone, cocoa bean and coffee, showing real depth and seduction. This is always one of the wines that for me most leans in to the character of limestone, and you really feel the full impact in this hot year. Old vines 45 years average. Stopped all punch down during fermentation, now only soft pumpovers and infusion. Axel Marchal and Julien Viaud consultants. Highest Cabernet Franc percentage in the estate's history, and a full 40hl/h yield, 3.5ph. Potential 100.
