05 May 2022

Releasing their 2021 vintage for sale en primeur this morning, Château Beaumont is usually one of our first offers of each campaign and invariably sets a benchmark for value and quality.  Rated 'Cru Bourgeois Supérieur', this château consistently over-delivers in relation to each vintage and to its peers. 

Offered here at just £105 per dozen in bond (£8.75 per bottle in bond, or £13.18 with all taxes*), the 2021 is another winner, but in a very different style to recent vintages.  With supple tannins and a lively elegance, this was the first of numerous cask samples which reminded us of the heydays of the 1980s vintages, where finesse trumped power and intensity.  At a very moderate 12.5% alcohol, it has the kind of old-school balance many of us have been craving.  Despite these echoes, a wine with the precision and focus of the 2021 Beaumont could only be made today, with all the advances in the vineyard and winery of the last few decades.  

As we suggested in our opening comments on the vintage, the top critics' scores this year may not fully reflect how lovely the 2021s were to taste; nor how enjoyable they will be to drink.  Beaumont is an interesting case study, with remarkably consistent scores from (for example) The Wine Advocate, putting the 2021 potentially well ahead of years like '05, '09 and '10:

2021	87-89	2014	88
2020	87-89	2013	82-84
2019	90	2012	86
2018	88-90	2011	79
2017	-	2010	87
2016	88-90	2009	85
2015	90	2005	87

Scores are a blunt instrument, but in this instance, they do hint at the steady rise in quality brought about by technology.  Under the same ownership as Beychevelle and Lagrange (which we also enjoyed tasting this year), Beaumont benefits from similar investment and skilled management.  You can read more about the château on our full offer, here.

The 2021 will be drinking within a couple of years of landing, but like its peers, will cellar well (assisted by a higher-than-usual proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, at 65%), so this is a wine to lay down in quantity. 

This is also a good time for your annual reminder that buying en primeur is the only reliable way to obtain half bottles, magnums and (by special request) other large formats.  Please let us know if you would like to order.

Offered en primeur, landing spring 2024.

TO ORDER, E-MAIL US AT SALES@RICHARDKIHL.LTD.UK

See Beaumont's technical director Anthony Yaigre describe the 2021 vintage:

Offered en primeur, landing spring 2024.

Producer Profile

Château Beaumont, Cru Bourgeois Haut-Médoc

Château Beaumont is Cru Bourgeois estate in Cussac, in the Haut-Médoc.  Under the same ownership as Châteaux Beychevelle and Lagrange (the Socétié Grands Millésimes de France), it is always a benchmark for the Cru Bourgeois and is also very accessible, as the estate is quite large at 113 hectares, producing over 50,000 cases in most years.

The origins of the estate date back to 1772 when the land was bought by Henri Labarthe.  The vineyard was planted in 1824 by a Monsieur Bonnin.  From 1830 to 1847 it belonged to the Marquis d’Aligre, one of the wealthiest men in France, who tripled the area under vine. In 1849 the estate passed into the hands of the Bonnin brothers, who built Château Beaumont in 1854 in a Renaissance 'mansard' style.

The vineyards are between the communes of Margaux and Saint-Julien and Beaumont draws on elements of both terroirs.  The main soil type is Gunzian gravel and the vines average 20 years of age, planted at a density of 6600-7000 vines per hectare; 53 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot.   The wine is aged for 12-14 months in barriques, one-third of the new.  Éric Boissenot is consultant oenologist and Anthony Yaigre is cellar master.