Beau Séjour Bécot - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020

Vinous

96-96

byNeal Martinthe2/28/2025

The 2020 Beauséjour Bécot has a winsome bouquet with precise, focused and mineral-driven red fruit that shimmers with tension. The palate is medium-bodied with seamlessly integrated oak and hints of black pepper and cedar. It fans out toward the finish with supreme confidence. The terroir really comes through in this wine. This is not to be underestimated. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Wine Advocate

95

byWilliam Kelleythe4/6/2023

A terrific performance for an estate on a continuing upward trajectory, the 2020 Beau-Séjour Bécot unwinds in the glass with a deep bouquet of cherries and blackberries mingled with violets and spices. Medium to full-bodied, pure and layered, it's deep and concentrated, with a vibrant core of fruit, polished tannins and a long, sapid finish. The 2020 is a blend of 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, some two-thirds of which was matured in new oak, with the balance in tanks, amphorae and foudres.

Wine Spectator

94

byJames Molesworththe3/31/2023

Very expressive, with cassis, cherry puree and plum pâte de fruit notes leaping to the fore with good energy, while violet, red tea, savory and sanguine details add range and guile through the stylish finish. It's not easy to capture such freshness in this vintage like this version does. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2026 through 2038.

Jeb DUNNUCK

95

byJeb Dunnuckthe3/30/2023

A brilliant wine that's up with the finest to date from this incredible terroir, the 2020 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot checks in as 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. Revealing a vivid purple hue as well as a drop-dead gorgeous nose of black raspberries, cassis, violets, and a liquid rock-like sense of minerality, it’s medium to full-bodied and concentrated, with ultra-fine tannins and perfect balance. This beauty deserves 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve gracefully over the following two decades or more. Don't miss it.

The Wine Cellar Insider

97

byJeff Levethe3/22/2023

Beau-Sejour Becot is on a hot streak and 2020 shows why. Opening with a wealth of flowers before you get to all the red, black and blue fruits, thyme, spice-box, espresso beans, cocoa and licorice in the bouquet. The palate is even better with its multiple-layers of crushed stones, sensuous fruits, velvet-tannins and long, expansive, lifted finish, with its hint of salt in the endnote. As I penned after tasting a barrel sample, this is a new level of quality at Beau-Sejour Becot that embraces less volume, but more intensity, and purity in the fruit. With their new cellars about to come into use, you are looking at a new level of Beau-Sejour Becot! Drink from 2025-2055.

Vinous

97

byAntonio Gallonithe2/24/2023

The 2020 Beau-Sejour Becot is a dense, powerful wine. A rush of black cherry, plum, chocolate, new leather, licorice, spice and sweet oak builds as this towering, vertically explosive Saint-Émilion opens in the glass. This is an especially broad, expansive Saint-Émilion, much of that attributable to the clay in these soils. The 2020 is magnificent in its intensity and overall volume. Superb.

Wine Spectator

94

byJames Molesworththe11/30/2022

Very expressive, with cassis, cherry puree and plum pâte de fruit notes leaping to the fore with good energy, while violet, red tea, savory and sanguine details add range and guile through the stylish finish. It's not easy to capture such freshness in this vintage like this version does. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2026 through 2038.

Jeb DUNNUCK

94-96

byJeb Dunnuckthe5/28/2021

The vivid purple-hued 2020 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot is another ethereal, incredibly perfumed, mineral-laced Saint-Emilion, which is common from wines from the upper, limestone plateau. Gorgeous cassis and black cherry fruits as well as floral notes, violets, and chalky minerality all define the nose, and it’s medium-bodied, has wonderfulness and purity, and reveals a liqueur of rocks-like minerality on the finish. It’s another thrillingly complete wine from this team that shines for its purity, elegance, and complexity.

Vinous

92-94

byNeal Martinthe5/27/2021

The 2020 Beau-Séjour Bécot was picked 8 September until 30 September, but mostly between 8-12 September, around 70% of the production. It is one of the highest percentages of Merlot in recent years partly due to restructuring of the vineyard and also higher yields (47-48hl/ha) compared to the Cabernets. With no SO2 used during fermentation and matured in 55% new oak (20hl Stockinger and Taransaud foudres and regular barriques) it is tightly wound on the nose, so I afforded the sample an hour to really open. It offers predominantly red berry fruit, wild mint and traces of dried honey, more floral scents emerging, violet and iris flower blossoming with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, very well judged acidity, a very graceful and unpretentious Saint-Émilion, harmonious with a touch of white pepper enhancing the precise finish. This is a classically styled Beau-Séjour Bécot that conveys a brooding intensity, so I would give it several years in the cellar.

Decanter.com

95

byJane Ansonthe5/25/2021

Velvety rich deep blue fruits, this is powerful and measured, fruit-forward and yet subtle, layered blueberry and raspberry with smoked almonds and mocha on the finish. Sleek and finessed fruit flavours, a sense of forward motion from beginning to end and a burst of freshly-grated minerality on the finish. Extremely good quality. This is the second to last vintage in the new cellar, before building a new cellar for 2023 vintage. They have done a lot of work in the vineyards studying the terroir to understand how smaller sectors and zones within each plot reacts, and this work of studying the plots will help to inform the new cellar. Harvest September 8th to September 29th. 3.5ph. A yield of 42hl/ha. 16 months ageing in 65% new oak barrel, 35% in vats, amphoras and 20hl oak tanks. Thomas Duclos consultant.

Jancis Robinson

17

byJancis Robinsonthe5/25/2021

85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fully blended with 10% press wine and no SO2 (at this stage). Cask sample. Absolute expression of place with stony, chalky notes superimposed over the berry fruit. Lovely texture of tannin, the palate fine, fresh, fruity and persistent. Really elegant and digeste. Reinforces the change of style seen since 2017. 

The Wine Cellar Insider

96-98

byJeff Levethe5/21/2021

With striking floral notes on the nose, you also find licorice, Asian spice, spearmint, cigar wrapper and an array of red and black plums. The wine is lifted, elegant, refined and focused on its purity and silky tannins. The energetic palate leaves you with layers of velvet-textured, sensuous, spicy fruits that lingers and expands for over 50 seconds in the finish. This is a new level of quality at Beau-Sejour Becot and also a change in style with less volume, but more intensity, purity and precision. The wine blends 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.3% ABV. 96-98

Wine Advocate

95-97

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe5/20/2021

Displaying a deep purple-black color, the 2020 Beau-Sejour Becot prances out of the glass with showy scents of preserved plums, chocolate-covered cherries, wild blueberries and raspberry preserves, plus suggestions of rose oil, ground cloves and licorice. The elegantly crafted, medium-bodied palate shimmers with energy, offering a fantastic intensity of crunchy red and black fruits, supported by fine-grained tannins and bold freshness, finishing long and perfumed. Simply stunning.

Jamessuckling.com

96-97

byJames Sucklingthe5/12/2021

This has a fantastic finish with crushed blackberries and raspberries and salt undertones. It’s full-bodied, yet really racy and polished with such fine, intense tannins. Love the length to this. Very distinguished and toned. Excellent energy. 85% merlot, 13% cabernet franc and 2% cabernet sauvignon.

Anthocyanes

98-100

byYohan Castaingthe5/11/2021

Encore une fois, ce domaine impressionne par son éclat de fruits noirs, ses notes délicatement épicées, sa fraicheur mentholée et son assise florale (violette, lilas et iris) qui ne se dément pas. En bouche, tout est réalisé en douceur avec une texture juteuse et charnue soutenue par une acidité calcaire et des tanins d'une précision incroyable. C'est émotionnel tellement c'est précis, cristallin et dense en même temps. Trame tannique exceptionnelle. Une acmé esthétique. Le Beau-Séjour Bécot le plus proche de son terroir et le plus racé. Bravo ! Potentiel de garde : pour les petits-enfants ! Magnifique rapport qualité-prix pour les heureux allocataires !

Falstaff

94-96

byPeter Moserthe5/10/2021

Im Duft fein und komplex zugleich: Schwarzkirsche und kreidige Kalknoten, auch Kokos. Thymian, Salbei, Darjeeling, rote Johannisbeere, Wildkirsche, schwarzer Pfeffer. Im Mund ölig, mit leichter Süße in der Frucht, der Alkohol stört den seidigen, saftigen Eindruck nicht. Gut integrierte, feinnervige Säure, mutet fast schon burgun- disch an in seiner feingliedrigen Art.

My Bettane + Desseauve

95-96

by Bettane & Desseauvethe5/7/2021

Yvesbeck.wine

96-98

byYves Beckthe4/9/2021

Pourpre violacé. Que de précision, de clarté dans ce bouquet ! il est marqué par des notes de violettes, de cassis et d'épices. Nuances de graphite. En bouche le vins se distingue par son élégance, sa finesse. La structure acide lui confère un peu de pep, du jus et soutient l'expression fruitée tandis que les tannins, serrés, puissants mais bien intégrés, assurent idéalement les arrières. Finale fuitée et persistante. Un vin vibrant qui brille par sa finesse, sa fraîcheur et sa puissance. 2027-2050