Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux 2010 tasting. The La Croix de Beaucaillou 2010 has a touch of camphor on the nose that is very ripe and nicely defined - much more modern in style compared to its peers and attractive. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, plenty of fleshy ripe black fruit and a very composed and quite sophisticated finish. This is a second wine delivering grand cru quality. Tasted January 2014.

This represented 55% of the production and now, under Bruno Borie, comes from the same vineyard almost every year. (The vineyard is on the other side of the Route du Vin, separating Beaucaillou from estates such as St.-Pierre, Branaire-Ducru and Gloria.) Sweet mulberry and boysenberry fruit intermixed with licorice, forest floor and earth are followed by an opulently textured, fleshy wine that is dense and outstanding. I joked with Bruno Borie that the second wine is probably better than many of the Ducru Beaucaillous produced in the 1970s. It should drink well for 10-15 years. 90-92 points.

Dark ruby-red. Exotic aromas of red berries and Oriental spices complicated by cedar and black tea nuances. Then muscular and brawny on the palate, but with plenty of ripe red fruit flavor and smooth tannins. The persistent finish is clean and pure. Readers may also want to take a good look at Le Petit Caillou, the third wine of the estate, which is effusively fruity and very successful in 2010. 87-89 points