DUCRU-BEAUCAILLOU DECLARED WORLD’S BEST CAB BLEND IN BLIND TASTING

(TDB) - A blind tasting of some of the world’s most revered Cabernet blends from the 2009 vintage in London yesterday saw Château Ducru-Beaucaillou come out in first place.

Despite the presence of all five Bordeaux first growths in the tasting, the second growth property from Saint-Julien gained the highest average score when the results were added from a group of tasters, who were made up of UK press and included Sarah Ahmed, Gerard Basset MW, Peter Richards MW, Martin Moran MW, Richard Hemming and db’s Patrick Schmitt.

Coming in equal second place, with just one point behind Ducru-Beaucaillou, were Château Latour, Château Léoville-Las Cases, Château Mouton-Rothschild, Ridge Monte Bello, and Wolf Blass Black Label.

The event, which comprised 30 prized Cabernet blends from Bordeaux, California, Tuscany, Chile, Australia and South Africa, was conceived and organised by Chris Hatcher, head winemaker at Wolf Blass, and this year’s IWSC winemaker of the year.

First held last year with the 2008 vintage, Hatcher said that the blind tasting was not designed to be “a competition of Bordeaux versus the rest of the world”, but an attempt to see what the world’s leading regions for Cabernet blends were achieving in terms of quality and style.

Hatcher stressed that it wasn’t a Cabernet tasting, but a Cabernet blends tasting, with four of the wines in the line-up containing a Cabernet proportion of under 60%, although the majority contained over 70% of the grape.