Château Beau-Séjour Bécot Saint-Emilion 2020 - 1er Grand Cru Classé B

Bettane & Desseauve

About the estate:

Juliette Bécot now successfully carries on the rich, indulgent, intense, and flavorful character of this top-tier wine, which is in excellent form

Decanter

About the wine:

The nose is rich, full-bodied, and heady. On the palate, there are notes of ripe blackcurrant, red cherries, raspberries, and strawberries, as well as mint, black pepper, and truffle. The precision and density are excellent, with a seductive hint of dark chocolate. It is well-structured, with a sense of classicism. A powerful, muscular, and confident wine, yet supple—this wine possesses density but also grace, with a refreshing finish featuring licorice, mint, and a gentle salinity. A great wine. 2025–2047

Guide Hachette des vins

About the wine:

Dense, structured, and deep, this grand cru with an impressive pedigree is only at the beginning of its journey and currently reveals just a glimpse of its potential. Even now, however, the ripe fruit, rich and powerful tannins, and the freshness of the limestone create a true harmony. Great potential lies ahead.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the estate:

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the estate:

Beautifully situated in the central-western part of the Saint-Emilion limestone plateau, the vineyard is masterfully managed by the Bécot brothers, Dominique and Gérard, who produce an expressive wine characterized by integrity and depth. Gérard Bécot officially retired on January 2, 2014. General management has been entrusted to his son-in-law, Julien Barthe, husband of Juliette Bécot, who continues to oversee the winemaking. Dominique Bécot, Gérard’s brother, remains at the helm of the vineyard. His children, Pierre and Caroline, also work on the estate. In January 2014, Beauséjour purchased Château Haut-Pourret, a 2.5-hectare property on the southern slope, whose grapes will be vinified in the La Gomerie cellar under the label Le Bécot de Beau-Séjour. Winemaking methods are evolving, aiming for an elegant expression of the fruit while seeking to add volume to the firmness and length of the wines produced from limestone soils. Maintaining its status as a Premier Grand Cru Classé in 2012, the château obtained authorization to incorporate the La Gomerie parcel into its vineyard registry.

Vinous

About the wine:

Beau-Séjour Bécot 2020 is a dense and powerful wine. A rush of black cherries, plums, chocolate, new leather, licorice, spices, and soft oak unfolds as this imposing and explosively layered Saint-Émilion opens up in the glass. This is a particularly broad and expansive Saint-Émilion, largely due to the clay in its soils. The 2020 is magnificent in its intensity and overall volume. A superb wine. 2028–2050

Terre de Vins

About the wine:

Over the past few vintages, the team at Beau-Séjour Bécot has openly challenged itself to extract the very essence of its beautiful terroir, the heart of which lies on the Saint-Émilion plateau. Following the clear rise in quality over the past two years, the transformation is undeniable. We find the brilliance of the fruit, the fresh and invigorating aromatics that are now typical of the estate, but with added density, depth, and substance, all carried by a limestone-driven vibrancy that defines the terroir’s identity. The crispness gives way to juiciness, with exquisite work on the finesse of the tannins. Remarkable!

Yves Beck

About the wine:

There was a time when BSB (it’s shorter to write) made a big splash right from the very first seconds… well, those days are gone. Now, it has a little bell that lets you open the door! Note that you only need to crack it open slightly, because the wine makes its way in with a subtlety rarely seen. The 2020 stands out for its freshness, its slender, airy, precise, and vigorous character. What a sense of energy, of quiet strength, and what an ability to move forward, with a perfect view of the horizon. The wine knows exactly where it wants to go—down our throats—but first it needs to spend some time in the cellar. This shouldn’t stop you from tasting it as soon as it’s delivered. A wine is meant to be tasted, observed, followed, and then savored. You just need to have enough of it. I’d like to conclude by highlighting a point I consider important: styles evolve, and there have been notable changes at Beau-Séjour Bécot. The goal is to be even closer to the terroir and the rock, and to follow the wine as it expresses itself. These changes are evolving and do not call into question what was done before, because let’s not forget that we can only be here if someone was here before us! So the past is also the future. 2026–2045

Vert de Vin

About the wine:

The nose is elegant and refined, offering power (expressed with delicacy), lovely finesse, freshness, depth, an airy quality, complexity, intensity (expressed with finesse), as well as a lovely, very fine and distinguished texture. It features notes of vibrant wild blackcurrant, morello cherry, and, more subtly, small, vibrant black berries combined with hints of violet, blueberry, crushed strawberry, as well as subtle hints of crushed redcurrants, cardamom, star anise, and sweet spices, along with a very discreet, almost smoky note and an imperceptible hint of pepper (in the background). The palate is fruity, balanced, and elegantly refined, offering juiciness, freshness, lovely definition, richness, a tangy structure, rounded finesse, tension, depth with finesse, minerality, and a lovely, refined texture, an airy quality in its balance, a very lovely pulpy/tart fruit profile, smoothness, and a beautiful finesse within its richness. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of pulpy/juicy blackcurrant, juicy/fresh, and, to a lesser extent, vibrant redcurrants, combined with hints of camphor, small juicy/tart black berries, black tea, blueberries, juicy bilberries, as well as subtle notes of dark chocolate, a discreet hint of caramelization, and toasted hazelnut. The tannins are precise, elegant, fresh, and delicately creamy. A subtle hint of cocoa bitterness is present on the finish and in the aftertaste. Good length and a very beautiful aromatic (and savory) persistence. A precise wine that is all finesse and delicacy within its power.

The Wine Cellar Insider - Jeff Leve

About the wine:

Beau-Séjour Bécot is on a roll, and the 2020 vintage is proof of that. The bouquet opens with a profusion of flowers before giving way to red, black, and blue fruits, thyme, a spice rack, espresso beans, cocoa, and licorice. The palate is even better, with its multiple layers of crushed stone, sensual fruit, velvety tannins, and a long, expansive, and spicy finish, with a hint of salt on the finish. As I wrote after tasting a barrel sample, this represents a new level of quality at Beau-Séjour Bécot, featuring less volume but greater intensity and purity in the fruit. With the new cellars soon to come online, Beau-Séjour Bécot will reach a new level of quality! Best enjoyed between 2025 and 2055.

Anthocyanes - Yohan Castaing

About the wine:

Once again, this wine impresses with its burst of black fruit, its delicately spicy notes, its minty freshness, and its unwavering floral foundation (violet, lilac, and iris). On the palate, everything comes together smoothly with a juicy, full-bodied texture supported by chalky acidity and incredibly precise tannins. It’s deeply moving—so precise, crystalline, and dense all at once. Exceptional tannic structure. A aesthetic pinnacle. The Beau-Séjour Bécot that’s closest to its terroir and the most distinguished. Bravo! Aging potential: for the grandchildren! Magnificent value for the lucky recipients!