2021 Ch Beau Sejour Becot Grand Classé, St-Émilion

DUE OCT 2024

Rose-edged raspberries on the nose with blackcurrant leaf, soft herbal and earthy tones too. Gently floral and perfumed – so welcoming. Direct and streamlined on the palate with gently chalky/creamy tannins that are so integrated they just glide across the tongue settling around the mouth giving a salty tang to the juicy red and black fruit. Such a lovely freshness; this is delicate in terms of texture and overall frame but well positioned and expressive, benefitting from racy acidity and fruit density. It’s harmonious and balanced with such detail on the palate giving transparency of the vintage, the terroir and the grapes. Confident and finessed: a distinguished 2021 that will give a lot of drinking pleasure. 3.5pH. 32hl/ha

Drinking Window 2026 - 2045

95 points GH decanter.com

I loved the 2021 Beau-Séjour Bécot. This is just straight-up class with its ripe red plum and bright cherry fruit as well as mineral-laced aromatics of tobacco leaf and flowers. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has the freshness and purity of the vintage, terrific balance, ripe yet certainly present tannins, and a great finish. It's a beautiful wine in the making.

92-94+ points JB jebdunnuck.com

Aromas of deep berry fruit, dark chocolate, subtle spices and dried flowers introduce the 2021 Beau-Séjour Bécot, a medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless wine that's lively and layered, with a deep core of fruit, ripe tannins and a long, saline finish. Cropped at 35 hectoliters per hectare, and based on Merlot with some 13% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon in a supporting role, its quality reflects a growing season of relentless efforts and the impact of extra sorting equipment rented on the eve of harvest.

Fully four hectares of Beau-Séjour Bécot are lying fallow, and two more, recently replanted (with massale selections), are entering production only this year. That amounts to huge restructuring for an estate that only amounts to 22 hectares, sitting on Saint-Émilion's limestone plateau, and it will be fascinating to see the results. What has transformed this estate since 2018, however, has just as much to do with a change of approach in the winery and cellar as it does a change in the vineyards. Long but gentle macerations, more judicious extraction and a much defter touch with the choice of new oak are delivering wines of much greater finesse and complexity, without any loss of intensity, and the quality of this superb terroir is at last front and center in the glass. The 2021 vintage is the result of very exigent sorting and attention to detail in the timing of the harvest, and it has all the makings of one of the Right Bank highlights of the year.

93-95+ points WK robertparker.com

Lots of blue fruit with violets and a hint of boysenberry. Medium body, integrated and fine tannins and a cool, linear finish. Solid length and brightness.

93-94 points jamessuckling.com

The 2021 Beau Sejour Becot is one of the most elegant wines I have ever tasted here. Pliant and deep with striking depth the 2021 is outrageously beautiful. All the elements come together so effortlessly bold. Dark fruit, mocha, spice, licorice, and incense, or build in the glass. The creamy tannins are impossibly refined for the year while the finish is eternal. The 2021 is a real stunner. Readers won't want to miss it.

95-97 points AG vinous.com