2003 Château Brane-Cantenac

Community Tasting Notes (86) Avg Score: 90.4 points

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  1/27/2024 - Somm David T Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Love Margaux wines with rack of lamb. It is a classic pair as long as you are not doing a Mediterranean mint prep. This is salt, pepper, Napa Valley rub and red wine.
  
  As it airs and intermixes w/ the meal, it rises from 93 to 94.
  
  The wine is approaching its peak. Still has another 10 yrs of appropriate drinking.
  
  The fruits are ripe, juicy; blackberries, black raspberries, plum, dark cherries, strawberries, raspberries with hues of purple & blue fruits. There is excellent integration & evolution. Led pencil shavings, fresh & dry herbs, moist grey volcanic minerals/clay, fresh & dry tobacco, sandalwood, used leather, soft, dark spice with heat on the long set, limestone, dry crushed rocks into powder, touch of black pepper, saline, fresh dark, red flowers with violets, excellent, cool rainfall acidity, well woven, balanced, softly tensioned & structured with a pure elegant finish that lasts a full two-minutes.

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  12/23/2023 - tomandlu wrote: 88 Points

  Drank from magnum. Opened about 1 hour before drinking but not decanted and consumed over about 3 hours. Virtually opaque black-garnet color. Tarry, fruity nose with hints of menthol and spice. Very ripe and intense on the palate but still quite primary. Tasted much more of 2003 than Margaux but clearly Bordeaux. Long, moderately tannic finish. All in all a good wine and nicely balanced but rather simple with no indication of future development. Purchased on release and stored in my cellar since.

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  12/12/2023 - Harley1199 wrote:

  Pre-Xmas Indulgence; 12/1/2023-12/22/2023 (Madrid y Alicante - España): Becoming traditional at my home, bottle opened fourteen hours before lunch to slowly oxygenate. Without decanting. Cork in good condition but somewhat sparse in length I've to say. The Lurtons save on every field. The first impression on the nose was of a decided reduction and once well aerated presents feminine aromas representative of Margaux, namely rose petals, cassis broth, fruit yogourt of all forest berries, including a vegetable touch. Too linear to be considered aristocratic. On the palate it stands out for a velvety texture, a medium-bodied wine with an acidity and a balancing acidity, a very short finish for its supposed category. Acid aftertaste.
  No trace of the famous heat that those prophets proclaimed. It would be absurd to let it age any longer IMHO. Don't expect too much anyway.
  
  Como es tradicion en mi hogar, botella abierta catorce horas antes del almuerzo para que se oxigene lentamente. Sin decantar. Corcho en buen estado pero de una longitud un tanto escasa. Los Lurton ahorran en todos los campos. La primera impresión en nariz fue de una decidida reducción y una vez bien aireada presenta femeninos aromas representativos de Margaux, a saber, pétalos de rosa, caldo de cassis, yogourt de frutillos del bosque, inclusive un toque vegetal. Demasiado lineal para ser considerado aristocrático. En boca resalta por una textura aterciopelada, un vino de cuerpo medio con una acidez con una acidez equilibradora y un final muy corto para su supuesta categoría. Retrogusto ácido.
  Sin rastro del famoso calor que los profetas proclamaron. Sería absurdo dejarla envejecerla por más tiempo. No esperes demasiado de todos modos.

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  11/19/2023 - Cailles wrote: 91 Points

  20 Vintages of Brane Cantenac: My limited experience with Brane has been mostly positive, and this tasting confirmed my initial thoughts: these days, Brane is A) usually quite accessible and charming, even young; B) the quality has steadily improved over the years, the wines are becoming more complex, precise and balanced; while vintages pre 2015 often seemed a bit simple, more recent vintages show better, C) the aromatics in recent vintages remind me of Ch. Margaux, with beautiful ripe red fruit core, as well as floral and coffee components; and D) the quality/price ratio is exceptionally good (not considered for the ratings). E) The best wine was the ethereal 2020 (96 points), followed by a superbly fresh 2010 (95 points). Although the quality is exceptional these days, the Chateau didn't fully nail every vintage, the 2019 (93pts) and, more surprisingly, the 2016 (93pts) were strong but a tad too ripe and sweet.
  
  TN: Not much perfume jumping out of the glass. But much more open on the palate with surprisingly fresh red fruit and even some rhubarb notes. The downside here was that the tannins on the finish were slightly drying. This is unfortunately true for many 2003 these days. Still, this is quite a success for this difficult vintage. Drink up.
  
  Decanting: Not decanted. I’m not sure if decanting would benefit the wine.

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  10/25/2023 - rocknroller wrote: 92 Points

  Very dark red/purple color. Drank a glass over an hour. Same bottle as Chablis28 - see his note for prep. Cassis, sweet, flroal, ripe and juicy fruits on the nose. The palate shows more intense blackberry compote, grpahite, black raspberry, dill, a slight green note.

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