Finally, once again, I have a Bordeaux in my glass that is really fun to drink. No moaning, no reservations, no "yes, buts", quite simply a lot of pleasure, a lot of joy. It is the year of the resurgence of the proud winery that was declassified ten years earlier. Just this year, I was a guest at the winery. One could feel the satisfaction that the downgrading from Premier Grand Cru Classé B to Grand Cru Classé, which was felt to be unfair, could be ironed out. At the time, in 1985, it was not a question of quality, but of the irregular purchase - or integration - of additional vineyards with a lower classification. Bordeaux politics! I still experienced the old patron Michél Bécot passing on his large estate to his children as a precaution, but in such a way that the château did not have to be divided again - as it had been a hundred years before (at that time in Château Beau-Séjour Bécot and Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse) - and all the children could still be equally provided for. The wine cellar was new at the time and father Bécot told us about his concerns: Preserving tradition and realising new ideas. I had the impression of a "mischievous old gentleman" who knows exactly what he wants and is "up to all the tricks". 
and is "up to all the tricks". His sons, Gérard and Dominique, have already taken over the management at that time. I was also convinced by the new vintages, and I have subscribed and stored Beau-Séjour Bécot again and again (almost every year) since then. An emotional attachment to the château, combined with recognition of the quality of the wines have led to this. I will probably organise a tasting of the vintages - I also own a few older ones - from time to time. But now - after the 95 has been drunk - I have opened the 96 for the first time and... I am thrilled. What presented itself at the time as a good, but very concentrated, almost bombastic wine (not my favourite kind of Bordeaux), has developed wonderfully and found a harmony that pleases and convinces me. No, it is not the "great wine" that the Bécot brothers might have wished for (or aspired to), but it is a small, deeply effective, beautiful trouvaille. A wine that does not cause a stir, but scores with its well preserved and integrated fruit aromas, as well as with its soft, full-bodied nature. I am very satisfied that I waited - and believed - for almost 18 years.