Saint-Julien · vintage 2020
Why this vintage
- 96/100 from James Sucklingand 6 other scores above 90/100.
- The 2020 vintage in Saint-JulienAn early, hot year, with a harvest under pressure: a dense, juicy classic, ripe without heaviness.
Critic scores
- James Suckling96
- Vinous95
- Decanter95
- Wine Advocate94
- Wine Enthusiast94
- Wine Spectator94
- Jeb Dunnuck93
The 2020 vintage in Saint-Julien
Vintage benchmark: 94/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: An early, hot year, with a harvest under pressure: a dense, juicy classic, ripe without heaviness.
Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Julien. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.
Tasting
À la dégustation aujourd’hui, Branaire-Ducru 2020
montre une couleur profonde. Le nez, d’une grande
pureté, est déjà bien expressif : il s’enrichit à l’aération
et offre une belle palette de fruits bien mûrs, sans
lourdeur aucune, de notes épicées fines et de notes
plus fraîches qui donnent un bel équilibre à
l’ensemble.
L’attaque en bouche est très ronde. Le vin se
développe sur un beau charnu qui laisse toute sa
place à la finesse d’une trame dense de tanins
élégants. La persistance aromatique est
impressionnante.
L’ensemble de la dégustation, de l’attaque à la fin de
bouche, se déroule avec une belle homogénéité, une
vraie évidence.
Content available in French
Blend of the 2020 vintage
- 58 % Cabernet-sauvignon
- 32 % Merlot
- 7 % Petit verdot
- 3 % Cabernet franc
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2020 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with 70 % cabernet sauvignon, 22 % merlot, 4 % petit verdot, 4 % cabernet franc — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2020 sheet
- 40 hl/haYield
- 35 yrsVine age
- 300,000 bottlesProduction
Ageing
Elevage en fûts de chêne français pendant 16 à 20 mois, avec 60 à 65 bois neufs.
Bois fins sélectionnés dans plusieurs forêts françaises pour la qualité de leurs arômes et de leurs tanins.
Faible chauffe du bois, respectant le caractère et le fruit des vins
Soutirage traditionnel des fûts, à l'abri de l'air.
Content available in French
Terroir
The Branaire-Ducru vineyard is made up of several separate parcels, but with a terroir that remains homogeneous, on a very fine gravel rise at Beychevelle. The soil consists mainly of Quaternary gravelly-siliceous alluvium lying on a bed of alios (iron hardpan). The average age of the vineyard is 35 years. The blend at Château Branaire-Ducru is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 4% each of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Planting density is 8,000 vines/ha, for a yield of 40 hl/ha. Harvesting is by hand, with rigorous sorting in the vineyard and on sorting tables. Viticulture is conventional.
An offer on Château Branaire-Ducru 2020
Availability, allocations and terms: the Compagnie Médocaine will reply promptly. The estate and vintage are already filled in in the message.
Texts and documents 2020
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
For this vintage, the media library contains: packshots, labels. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.
Sheet checked on September 21, 2026. Technical data: the estate’s VinCod sheets. Critic scores: sources cited above, with their date. Vintage benchmarks and character: Compagnie Médocaine’s own editorial read. Soils and relief, where shown: the Compagnie Médocaine’s parcel survey and the Mapbox/IGN terrain model.