Château Beau-Séjour Bécot 2023 Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé

William Kelley, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
(96-98)/100 punten
The first vintage produced in the estate's highly functional new winery, the 2023 Beau-Séjour Bécot has turned out beautifully and looks likely to rival or surpass the brilliant 2022. Unfurling in the glass with notes of raspberries, dark berries and minty cherries mingled with notions of iris, wisteria and lilac, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and velvety, with a suave attack that prefaces a cool, complete core of fruit that's pure, perfumed and mineral, concluding with a long, saline finish. It's a blend of 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Franc that was harvested from September 7 to October 4, sub-block by sub-block.

Decanter
97/100 punten
A brilliant wine from this estate in 2023. Gorgeous bright purple rim. Fresh blueberries and black cherries on the nose with crayon, pencil lead, tapenade, olive and liquorice. Tangy and so alive on the palate, crystalline and pure, really clean and clear. The limestone comes through strongly in the wet stone aspects, a metallic coating of the mouth. This has a touch of tension, with mouthwatering acidity, as well as some subtle fleshiness that really expands towards the finish, where the wine settles and grows. A lovely, very singular style. Great juiciness, almost salty strawberry juice with cranberry and raspberry that really lingers. This will grow into a beauty. Tannins are flawless, there’s density but no heaviness. One of the best! The second year with a significant part of massale selection Cabernet Franc in the blend. 39hl/ha yield. 3.5pH, 68 IPT.

Antonio Galloni, Vinous
(95-98)/100 punten
The 2023 Beau-Séjour Bécot is fabulous. Rich, opulent and explosive to the core, the 2023 offers up a heady mélange of dark red/purplish fruit, spice, lavender, rose petal, blood orange and bright saline notes. As always, Cabernet Franc plays an important role in shaping the aromatic and flavor profile. The 2023 is an absolute stunner. It’s the first vintage made in the new cellar. That's of course not enough of a track record to make any definitive assessments, but in the 2023, I see a wine with more aromatic presence, greater precision and more refined tannins than any recent vintage I can recall. In a word: magnificent. Tasted two times.

James Suckling
(96-97)/100 punten
A wine with very bright and al-dente fruit. Aromas and flavors of redcurrants and minerals with lavender and chalk. Medium to full body and a solid core of tannins integrated with the dark fruit. Toned-muscle quality to the tannins. Fresh and vibrant at the end. Pure fruit. Energy. 77% merlot and 23% cabernet franc.

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
95/100 punten
Ruby red, glass staining, peony and violet flowers on the aromatics, plush velvety tannins that cushion plump damson and pomegranate fruits through to a juicy salinity on the finish. Estate identity in full effect here, shot through with the sheer pleasure of limestone, harvest September 7 to 28 for the Merlot, with Cabernet Franc through to October 4. 39hl/h yield. 55% new oak for ageing. First year in the new cellar, Jean de Cournuaud technical director.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
(96-98)/100 punten
The intensity, length, and purity are impossible to ignore this year. The wine offers strong floral characteristics coupled with sweet, ripe, red cherries, licorice, black raspberries, and a hint of cocoa. The wine is silky, elegant, long, and refined. The fruit is incredibly, soft, sweet, and pure. The key point in the vintage was their water-retentive, limestone terroir that nourished the vines during the dry part of the growing season. 2023 is the first vintage produced in the estates new cellars, which allowed for precision wine making, which was needed in this difficult vintage. The aging is different starting with the 2023 as well, now the wine is aged in 55% new, French oak barrels, with 20% of the harvest aging in foudres. The wine blends 77% Merlot, with 22% Cabernet Franc. 14.1%, ABV, 3.5 pH. The harvest took place, September 7 - October 4. Drink from 2029-2060.

Neal Martin, Vinous
(92-94)/100 punten
The 2023 Beau-Séjour Bécot has the highest percentage of Cabernet Franc to date after the introduction of vines planted with a north-south orientation eight years ago, from a massal selection. The Merlot was picked from September 7 until October 4, a long harvest. It underwent a ten-day cold pre-fermentation to fix the aromatics and enhance volume, then it was matured in 55% new oak—25% one-year old and 20% foudres. It has a crisp, well-defined bouquet with lifted red cherry, wild strawberry and crushed limestone aromas. This is classy and complex. The palate is medium-bodied with sapid red fruit, fine acidity and moderate grip. The texture is slightly chalky and reminds me of Troplong Mondot, which is no surprise given the similarities in their respective terroirs. Just a touch of salinity surfaces on the finish. This is a sophisticated and quite cerebral Saint-Émilion that should age with style. 

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent
(95-97+)/100 punten
A blend of 77% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2023 Beau-Sejour Becot has a pH of 3.5. It is ageing in 55% new oak barriques, 20% one-year-old barrels, and 25% in a mix of amphorae and 20 hl oak casks. It has a deep garnet-purple color and comes galloping out of the glass with notes of crushed plums, black raspberries, and Morello cherries, opening out to a delicate undercurrent of garrigue, crushed rocks, violets, cranberry sauce, and pencil shavings. The medium-bodied palate is breathtakingly elegant and racy, with intense red and black berry layers and a fine-grained texture, finishing with energetic mineral sparks.

Jeb Dunnuck
(92-94)/100 punten
The 2023 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot checks in as 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Franc, made all in the new facility and brought up in 54% new French oak, with the rest mostly in oak casks and a kiss in amphora. It has the vintage's bright, almost racy style in its notes of black raspberry, chalky minerality, and tobacco and floral aromatics, and it's medium-bodied on the palate, with juicy acidity, fine yet building tannins, and outstanding length. It's a beautiful, elegant yet structured wine that will age gracefully. Tasted twice with consistent notes.