1986 Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru)

Community Tasting Notes (18) Avg Score: 89.7 points

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  1/23/2024 - winetobealive wrote: flawed

  Soirée vins compris. Robe de couleur dense et brique. Nez de sous bois voire champignons. À boire maintenant . Non noté

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  8/2/2023 - Wine Diplomats Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Branaire-Ducru Mini-Vertical
  
  05 Perfect cork. Darkest, deepest color of them all. Balanced at this point but still young in flavor profile. Ripe fruit, good acidity with integrated and sweet and savory oak notes but the age and style of the chateau gives it an elegance. Still need to wait to reach tertiary notes. 94+ On the second day, the fruit is starting to taste like dried fruit, but other tertiary notes haven't arrived yet.
  
  01 Still dark youthful color. Less expressive nose than the 86 but more on the primary and secondary notes. Dark fruit and spice. Baking spice. Palate is round. More dark fruit and good acid. Better after revisiting in an hour later, more expressive on the palate and nose, but still more primary and secondary. 91+ On the second day, tertiary notes start to emerge on the nose and palate.
  
  86 - Moldy cork that broke but only slightly soaked. Lightest color, show age but not excessive bricking given the age. Nose of mushrooms, pepper, leather. Still plenty of acidity on the palate, still plenty of fruit too but more on the dried fruit side. With touch of licorice with some of earthy and tobacco notes. Smooth but still some tannins left. After an hour, there's even more fruit and a touch of floral notes with softer texture but rather youthful given the age but it still doesn't have the balance of 2005 overall. But the mature nose and texture with still vibrant fruit make it an excellent wine that has a nice balance of primary, secondary and tertiary notes. Basically at its plateau now. 93
  
  All of them are on the classic, feminine side of Bordeaux. Good acidity. Low alcohol (12 for 86 and 13 for the 2001 and 2005) and balance of oak and ripeness of fruit. 05 and 01 had about 30+ minutes of being opened while the 86 was essentially a pop and pour. In terms of price, anyone that bought these en primeur should be happy. They've developed nicely. It's always an inflated price getting them at this stage, but I'd say 2005 is still worth it given the price of classified Bordeaux these days. The 2001 is a little more than it should be while the 86 is about what it should cost at this age given it's still drinking well.
  
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  1/25/2023 - Vinumming & Ahhing Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Branaire Ducru Vertical (The Market Brasserie at the Intercontinental at the O2, London): Cigar box and leafy tobacco. Some white pepper on the finish, like so many '96s the tannins remain very much in the picture, here really fine grained, which is not the case with all '86s. Cassis character too. Wine of the flight for me.

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  3/3/2021 - Zweder wrote:

  Gang of 4 in Covid19 times; Bordeaux (@ RW): Tertiary and very mature but still pleasant bouquet. On the palate mature as well. Mushrooms, nuts, coffee, autumn impressions, good acidity and the tannin is even still slightly sticky. At the end of its life, but still a pleasure. Drink very soon. No score for today.

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  4/6/2019 - blaahhi wrote: 91 Points

  Totally soaked, sponge-like cork that only came out in pieces. The contents were not affected however. Cassis, cedar, tobacco, slight beetroot, barnyard and earthy tones on the nose. The medium-bodied palate continues with these and adds decent acidity as well as mostly resolved, but still grippy tannins. Medium to long finish, tapering towards the acids and the tannins. There is still fruit left, although it has faded a bit, leaving the structure more exposed. The oak is pretty much integrated, but still makes its presence known. Old-fashioned in a good way, and maybe in a slight twilight phase already, but still giving much drinking pleasure. Drink up.

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