1982 Château Brane-Cantenac
Community Tasting Note
Cailles wrote:
Sunday, November 19, 2023 - 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: Sadly, this bottle wasn’t particularly good. While there was still some life left on the nose, the palate was thin and with barely any fruit left. Nothing to write home about. Still, 89pts for the good nose displaying intense dark berries, crushed rocks, herbal notes and fine burnt sugar notes.
Decanting: Not decanted. I don’t think that more air would have changed things here but maybe this wasn’t a representative bottle.
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Comment posted by oldwines:
11/21/2023 11:00:00 AM - I think the decanting may have made a big difference. In my note a few years ago (my last bottle) I had it over 6+ hours and it was marvelous at the end. I have found many old Bordeaux from the 70’s-80’s that blossom with a lot of air. I think these old school wines need it. See my note on 1970 Ch Lascombes… Cheers!
Comment posted by Cailles:
11/21/2023 11:28:00 AM - Many thanks for the input. Might very well be, I have had made the same experience too.