Château Beau-Séjour Bécot 2022, Wine Spectator Top 5 2025
Château Beau-Séjour Bécot 2022 is a Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé B, located on the limestone plateau of Saint-Martin de Mazerat and now run by Juliette Bécot and Julien Barthe. The origins of the terroir date back to medieval monks, then to the work of Michel Bécot, who consolidated the property's international reputation. In 2025, Beau-Séjour Bécot 2022 was ranked No. 5 in Wine Spectator's Top 100, entering directly into the coveted Top 10
Vintage
In Bordeaux, 2022 was a very hot and dry year, but with relatively cool nights that helped preserve acidity and aromas. On clay-limestone soils such as those at Beau-Séjour Bécot, low yields and small berries produced a red wine of great concentration, but surprisingly fresh and balanced, noted by many critics as one of the best in the estate's recent history.
Tasting notes
The nose is very expressive, with violets, wild rose and small red berries, over layers of blackberry, plum, fine cocoa and graphite. On the palate, it shows a full but elegant body, precise fruit, silky, very fine-grained tannins and a mineral tension typical of the Saint-Émilion plateau, lingering in a long, salty and vibrant finish. A modern, deep and sophisticated Bordeaux with great ageing potential.
Grape varieties
76% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2022 Beau-Séjour Bécot is a total stunner. What a wine! The 2022 was magnificent en primeur, and it is all that from bottle. The aromatics alone are mesmerizing. Crushed rose petal, mint, blood orange, new leather and cedar meld into a core of pliant red-toned fruit. More than anything else, I am so impressed with the wine's precision and finesse. I have never tasted a Beau-Séjour Bécot like this. (AG)
Tasted on multiple occasions, the 2022 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot is flat-out sensational, as well as the finest wine I’ve tasted from this château. Powerful aromatics of red, blue, and black fruits as well as crushed stone and violets define the aromatics, and it’s full-bodied, incredibly concentrated, has integrated acidity, and ultra-fine tannins. Based on 76% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, this heavenly Saint-Emilion will benefit from just 3-5 years of bottle age and have 30 years or more of overall longevity. Back up the truck.
The 2022 Beau-Séjour Bécot has turned out brilliantly in bottle. Wafting from the glass with a complex bouquet of sweet wild berries mingled with rose petals, orange zest, violets, gentian and espresso roast, it's full-bodied, supple and suave, with a deep core of cool, layered fruit, beautifully vibrant flavors and polished structuring tannins, concluding with a saline finish. As I wrote when I tasted it from barrel, this is a Saint-Émilion of breathtaking perfume and harmony that will be worth a special effort to seek out. (WK)
Floral notes on the nose. Tangy and sharp, lively and bright straight away, sweet and sour, so energetic and lively with a mineral grip from the fine, firm, grippy tannins. Lovely precision and almost delicate presentation of fruit. You really feel the mineral, salty, tangy aspect of the fruit, nothing feels overworked, all in balance, really quite thrilling and electric. Great purity and focus. Scintillating yet still with a lovely volume and roundness accented by tobacco, clove, liquorice and cinnamon touches. Really well worked and fresh - this feels very modern with such control to the fruit, tannins, acidity giving overall depth and complexity. Elegant but confident, taking the best density from clay density and freshness from limestone. A very singular charm with this wine. 3.55pH. 10% press wine. (GH)
This has double the amount of Cabernet Franc in the blend as of this year after vineyard restructuring, and the chalkiness of the limestone helps underline the curling peony and violet floral character on the opening beats, balancing the intensity of the vintage. Plenty of blueberry and damson fruit, with bitter cocoa bean and coffee, saffran and smoked dried herbs. Highly successful. No irrigation, instead used cover crops, and reduced the height of the canopy by 15cm to limit the transevaporation. Cold maceration for 10-15 days, 55% new oak, 30% oak casks, and amphoras. Jean de Cournuaud technical director. 33hl/h yield after frost impact, harvest September 5 to 23. The new cellar will be ready for the end of August for the 2023 vintage.
This is very fresh, expressive and focused, with violet, iris and rosehip notes darting to the fore, while flavors of sleek raspberry and red currant preserves race along behind. Almost flattering, but there's a subtle chalky tension piercing the finish, which sails through. A dreamy wine. *Highly Recommended* (JM) *#5 Wine of the Year 2025
