Bought on auction recently. Bottle filled upper shoulder (ullage of 4cm), some sediment. The cork is completely soaked, with some seepage under the capsule. Light to medium brick colour. Red and dark fruit, leafy black currant, blackberry, red cherry, red currant, cedar, leather, tobacco leaf, sous-bois, herbaceous notes, spices, balsamic notes and light ethereal notes, with slightly pronounced acidity, fully resolved tannin, and good length. Finishes lightly drying, but the fruit is intact, and all things considered this is a positive surprise! And I am sure there are better preserved bottles out there. Started to fall apart after about one hour. Drink now.
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This is exactly what i would expect from a Margaux made in the traditional style: medium deep intensity, only a slight change of hue after 45 years. classic cassis nose with some leafy character adding elegance and complexity; not "herbaceousness". Tobacco, spices and gravelly notes accompany this wine. Nice soft tannins, good acidity and a long, full finish with more intensity than you would expect from the refined character of this wine. Not going to improve , but should hold on for another 5 - 10 years. Purchased at auction, recently, for 35 Euros.
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From Magnum this was excellent tonight. Soft red and black fruit, cedar, tobacco, coffee and lilac notes. This was a really well stored magnum, and there was no browning at the edges. Just a clear limpid red meniscus with a ruby core. Silky texture and detailed nuance. Brane character on full display tonight.
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Excellent expression of a mature Margaux; soft and silky with sweet complex flavors and cedar, lean and sweet blackberry, mocha and raisin; long smooth silky finish.
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Thiis nice but lacking the intensity of some prior bottles. Floral, red berries and blackberry coulis. Eautiful herb notes as well. Length was lacking a bit..
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Low shoulder fill. This was rather tired with brown sugar notes and mature fruit. Didn't stand up well compared to the Palmer. May not have been the best bottle.
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Pulled the cork a few hours early, decanted 15 mins before drinking. The nose is fresh and full of purple fruit and flowers. Air brings complexity, with earth soil tones, a green bell pepper, and woody cedar notes. The palate is balanced and echoes the complexity of the nose, and shows that gentle old rusty bones sense. This is not a dense wine, nor does it show much fruit at this stage. It’s lean, in fact. But it’s very lovely still.
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Perfect balance with a nose of leather, tar and sweet tobacco; earthy perfect light blackberry fruit; elegant, smooth and lean tannin; long elegant finish.
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Showing its age, but still a very nice bottle. 1st one we opened was bad....can't pinpoint what, but it was just not good. This bottle was fine. As with my experience with other 1979 Bordeaux, this is delicate. Didn't decant, afraid to. Didnt need a decant, it developed nicely in the glass. Perhaps a 30 or 45 min slow-ox to let it blossom.
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Nose: gorgeous floral and pencil notes supporting a core of bramblly blackberry that is so prominent. Perfume wafts generously from the glass giving layers of tobacco, earth, brine and fruit. Palate: lively and bright on the palate with beautiful red fruit and violet notes. Pencil, cedar and earthy notes are all under the elegant approach.
NM deemed this a sleeper vintage for Brane Cantenac and I would tend to agree. Wish my batting average would get better with these though.
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1 hour slow-ox; opens with a glycerin nose of honeysuckle, leather, and mushrooms; seamless palate of 40 years of forest floor and plum; elegant sour cherries and light plum finish. This beautiful wine is fading fast as the first glass was much better than the last.
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Ullage: High Shoulder. A rather well preserved bottle. Nose of cigar box, bramble, undergrowth and sous bois with some slightly sweet fruits. On the palate, the tannins were for the most part resolved. Leaving the wine with a slightly sweet fruit and ample acidity. Slightly floral and leaves a good lasting aftertaste. Normally a quite underestimated chateau, Brane ages very well and still does not command as high a price as the others. Good Value and totally enjoyable bottle of wine to drink.
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Top / high shoulder fill. PnP. Completely soaked cork but for once managed to get it out in one piece. A healthy garnet with only slight bricking. Initially a bit musty but blows off after about 5-10 min in the open bottle. Forest floor, earth, still medium bodied with beautiful sweat fruit. Entirely resolved tannins. Very Margaux and nice pairing with grilled chicken breast at home. Unlike I recall the last bottle, the fruit starts fading very quickly with air exposure and the rest of the bottle after dinner is dominated by leather and sous bois. Do not decant and drink up quickly upon opening. 91
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At first there's a bit of freshly cut capsicum action. The wine evens out to show notes of sweet cedar, tobacco, rose petals and a hint of chocolate. It is fresh and punchy with good detail and crisp acidity.
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This is why I love cellartracker. You have a good but not great Bdx vintage, which at age 35 should be way past prime, and a wine rated by Parker 75 and by Suckling 80, 15 respectively 25 years ago. And then you have 10 cellartracker notes, largely positive, with 4 scores averaging 91.8. What do you do? You have to give it a try... Bottle not exactly in great condition. High/top shoulder fill and a pretty ugly cork, completely soaked and with a thick black crust obviously from a very humid cellar. This did not seem to have affected the wine at all. PnP. Medium garnet with only slight browning at the rim. What starts as a fine, somewhat fragile mature Bdx with light fruit and sous bois, gains weight after 30 min in the open bottle. Some sulphur on the beautiful nose now, a round and silky smooth palate with good weight. Medium (+) finish. Wonderful - what else do you want in a mature Bdx? Better than their 1975 I had some time ago, Brane seems to me the outperformer in the 70s and 80s that nobody had on the radar screen back then. 91-92
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Opened and poured to rest a bit in the glass. Ligth browny red but more to the red than expected. Good light berry acidity on the nose combined with burned bread and slight tobacco/cassise; very exotic flowery and margaux. A bit thin in taste but in keepting with the nose - light bodied and somewhat short....kept improving for an hour or so. Clearly over the hill but a good experience...
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{mid-shoulder} Decanted just before service. Almost mahogany, turning brown. Intense tobacco/woody/cedar nose; sweet and aged and almost lovely to the point where you just know the palate is never going to live up to this... which turns out to be true. Faded. Gentle, ancient mulberry fruit, dominated by cigar-box/oak flavours, but turning astringent and volatile; generally quite light-bodied, and with a short finish. Yes, could be drunk with food, but it’s really on the downward slide. Indifferent cellaring (see level) has taken its toll. I wouldn’t be surprised if well-stored, less-ullaged bottles were still sailing along nicely.
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After decanting for 45 minutes before drinking we experience some very nice aromas of horse stables with sweet tones. Still a great Margaux for a few years.
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Very good but not as good as 1978. Need decanting 1 hour before drinking. Very nice aromas of cigar box with sweet tones. Tastes well but not as long finish as 1978, lacking some harmony and complexity.
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- Garnet color with medium forming legs and aromas of bell pepper, asparagus, strawberry and prune. It's balanced and has flavours of mushroom, cloves, walnut and strawberry with a medium/full body. Smooth texture with a long finish - I approached this bottle with some trepidation, wondering if I was going to be unearthing a corpse! My fears worsened when the cork disintegrated in the neck of the bottle. However, a few seconds after decanting all my worries were gone, wonderful forest aromas and a fantastically balanced flavour with a finish lasting minutes. Served with roast beef, this was everything I look for in a margaux, powerful, yet subtle and perfumed. Maybe a few years left before it starts to fade.
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Dinner with Mike Woodhead (Elements - Santa Barbara): This was a bit of a surprise. A low rated wine, but a bottle in great shape. I thought it held its own against the 1989's, and I returned to this bottle more than any other one of the night! Nice fruit, great finish, bravo.
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2/29/2024 - PSPatrick wrote: 89 Points
Bought on auction recently. Bottle filled upper shoulder (ullage of 4cm), some sediment. The cork is completely soaked, with some seepage under the capsule. Light to medium brick colour. Red and dark fruit, leafy black currant, blackberry, red cherry, red currant, cedar, leather, tobacco leaf, sous-bois, herbaceous notes, spices, balsamic notes and light ethereal notes, with slightly pronounced acidity, fully resolved tannin, and good length. Finishes lightly drying, but the fruit is intact, and all things considered this is a positive surprise! And I am sure there are better preserved bottles out there. Started to fall apart after about one hour. Drink now.
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1/26/2024 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 92 Points
This is exactly what i would expect from a Margaux made in the traditional style: medium deep intensity, only a slight change of hue after 45 years.
classic cassis nose with some leafy character adding elegance and complexity; not "herbaceousness".
Tobacco, spices and gravelly notes accompany this wine.
Nice soft tannins, good acidity and a long, full finish with more intensity than you would expect from the refined character of this wine.
Not going to improve , but should hold on for another 5 - 10 years.
Purchased at auction, recently, for 35 Euros.
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1/7/2023 - paulst Likes this wine: 95 Points
Brickish brown and nicely mature; tobacco, cedar and earth; balanced and lean with mature integrated tannin; long sweet and elegant finish.
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4/10/2022 - RockinCabs wrote: 93 Points
From Magnum this was excellent tonight. Soft red and black fruit, cedar, tobacco, coffee and lilac notes. This was a really well stored magnum, and there was no browning at the edges. Just a clear limpid red meniscus with a ruby core. Silky texture and detailed nuance. Brane character on full display tonight.
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1/25/2022 - paulst Likes this wine: 98 Points
Excellent expression of a mature Margaux; soft and silky with sweet complex flavors and cedar, lean and sweet blackberry, mocha and raisin; long smooth silky finish.
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1/8/2022 - RockinCabs wrote: 89 Points
Thiis nice but lacking the intensity of some prior bottles. Floral, red berries and blackberry coulis. Eautiful herb notes as well. Length was lacking a bit..
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1/4/2022 - paulst Likes this wine: 94 Points
Cedar. earth and elegance; light blackberry and nice mature balance.
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12/7/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 91 Points
Funky nose but smoothed; raspberry; mature; cedar; elegant but with a scratch; off a bit; herbaceous finish.
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11/7/2021 - Nutty08 wrote:
Low shoulder fill. This was rather tired with brown sugar notes and mature fruit. Didn't stand up well compared to the Palmer. May not have been the best bottle.
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5/2/2021 - brooklynguy Likes this wine:
Pulled the cork a few hours early, decanted 15 mins before drinking. The nose is fresh and full of purple fruit and flowers. Air brings complexity, with earth soil tones, a green bell pepper, and woody cedar notes. The palate is balanced and echoes the complexity of the nose, and shows that gentle old rusty bones sense. This is not a dense wine, nor does it show much fruit at this stage. It’s lean, in fact. But it’s very lovely still.
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3/31/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 90 Points
A little disjointed; some blackberry; cedar; off balance but semi-sweet semi-elegant finish.
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3/6/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 98 Points
Perfect balance with a nose of leather, tar and sweet tobacco; earthy perfect light blackberry fruit; elegant, smooth and lean tannin; long elegant finish.
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3/5/2021 - Two Winos wrote: 92 Points
Showing its age, but still a very nice bottle. 1st one we opened was bad....can't pinpoint what, but it was just not good. This bottle was fine. As with my experience with other 1979 Bordeaux, this is delicate. Didn't decant, afraid to. Didnt need a decant, it developed nicely in the glass. Perhaps a 30 or 45 min slow-ox to let it blossom.
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2/11/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 95 Points
Tar and earth; blackberry curd; even and balanced; perfect structure; lean and velvety; long coarse finish.
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2/4/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 93 Points
Damp basement, manura, tar and blackberry; soft tannins; balanced; elegant finish.
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1/9/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 95 Points
Leather; cedar and blackberry; complex with secondary flavors; smooth long finish.
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12/26/2020 - paulst Likes this wine: 90 Points
Lean and light cedar and earth; elegant with melted tannin; light raspberry-blackberry-cassis; soft lean velvety finish.
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11/13/2020 - RockinCabs wrote: 92 Points
Nose: gorgeous floral and pencil notes supporting a core of bramblly blackberry that is so prominent. Perfume wafts generously from the glass giving layers of tobacco, earth, brine and fruit. Palate: lively and bright on the palate with beautiful red fruit and violet notes. Pencil, cedar and earthy notes are all under the elegant approach.
NM deemed this a sleeper vintage for Brane Cantenac and I would tend to agree. Wish my batting average would get better with these though.
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11/13/2020 - RockinCabs wrote: flawed
Oxidized
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10/31/2020 - RockinCabs wrote: flawed
Oxidized
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5/31/2020 - Cliff Booth Likes this wine: 91 Points
1 hour slow-ox; opens with a glycerin nose of honeysuckle, leather, and mushrooms; seamless palate of 40 years of forest floor and plum; elegant sour cherries and light plum finish. This beautiful wine is fading fast as the first glass was much better than the last.
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4/1/2019 - BouzyRouge Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fully mature. Great tertiary aromas and flavors. A capsicum note was prominent but not unpleasant.
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5/5/2018 - Laurentcg wrote: flawed
À l'ouverture, le vin semble vinaigré à l'odeur.
En bouche, c'est vinaigré.
Dommage.
J'ouvrirai mon autre bouteille cette année sans faute.
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1/17/2016 - Nicholas81 wrote: 92 Points
Ullage: High Shoulder. A rather well preserved bottle. Nose of cigar box, bramble, undergrowth and sous bois with some slightly sweet fruits.
On the palate, the tannins were for the most part resolved. Leaving the wine with a slightly sweet fruit and ample acidity. Slightly floral and leaves a good lasting aftertaste. Normally a quite underestimated chateau, Brane ages very well and still does not command as high a price as the others. Good Value and totally enjoyable bottle of wine to drink.
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5/16/2015 - pavel_p Likes this wine: 90 Points
Top / high shoulder fill. PnP. Completely soaked cork but for once managed to get it out in one piece. A healthy garnet with only slight bricking. Initially a bit musty but blows off after about 5-10 min in the open bottle. Forest floor, earth, still medium bodied with beautiful sweat fruit. Entirely resolved tannins. Very Margaux and nice pairing with grilled chicken breast at home.
Unlike I recall the last bottle, the fruit starts fading very quickly with air exposure and the rest of the bottle after dinner is dominated by leather and sous bois. Do not decant and drink up quickly upon opening. 91
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3/24/2014 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
At first there's a bit of freshly cut capsicum action. The wine evens out to show notes of sweet cedar, tobacco, rose petals and a hint of chocolate. It is fresh and punchy with good detail and crisp acidity.
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1/16/2014 - pavel_p Likes this wine: 92 Points
This is why I love cellartracker. You have a good but not great Bdx vintage, which at age 35 should be way past prime, and a wine rated by Parker 75 and by Suckling 80, 15 respectively 25 years ago. And then you have 10 cellartracker notes, largely positive, with 4 scores averaging 91.8. What do you do? You have to give it a try...
Bottle not exactly in great condition. High/top shoulder fill and a pretty ugly cork, completely soaked and with a thick black crust obviously from a very humid cellar. This did not seem to have affected the wine at all. PnP. Medium garnet with only slight browning at the rim. What starts as a fine, somewhat fragile mature Bdx with light fruit and sous bois, gains weight after 30 min in the open bottle. Some sulphur on the beautiful nose now, a round and silky smooth palate with good weight. Medium (+) finish. Wonderful - what else do you want in a mature Bdx? Better than their 1975 I had some time ago, Brane seems to me the outperformer in the 70s and 80s that nobody had on the radar screen back then. 91-92
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11/30/2013 - Perthor01 Likes this wine: 89 Points
Opened and poured to rest a bit in the glass. Ligth browny red but more to the red than expected. Good light berry acidity on the nose combined with burned bread and slight tobacco/cassise; very exotic flowery and margaux. A bit thin in taste but in keepting with the nose - light bodied and somewhat short....kept improving for an hour or so. Clearly over the hill but a good experience...
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3/23/2013 - graemeg wrote:
{mid-shoulder} Decanted just before service. Almost mahogany, turning brown. Intense tobacco/woody/cedar nose; sweet and aged and almost lovely to the point where you just know the palate is never going to live up to this... which turns out to be true. Faded. Gentle, ancient mulberry fruit, dominated by cigar-box/oak flavours, but turning astringent and volatile; generally quite light-bodied, and with a short finish. Yes, could be drunk with food, but it’s really on the downward slide. Indifferent cellaring (see level) has taken its toll. I wouldn’t be surprised if well-stored, less-ullaged bottles were still sailing along nicely.
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9/7/2012 - bering8 wrote: 94 Points
After decanting for 45 minutes before drinking we experience some very nice aromas of horse stables with sweet tones. Still a great Margaux for a few years.
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8/26/2012 - Prinsen wrote: 90 Points
Very good but not as good as 1978. Need decanting 1 hour before drinking. Very nice aromas of cigar box with sweet tones. Tastes well but not as long finish as 1978, lacking some harmony and complexity.
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8/17/2012 - rickibc wrote: 94 Points
- Garnet color with medium forming legs and aromas of bell pepper, asparagus, strawberry and prune. It's balanced and has flavours of mushroom, cloves, walnut and strawberry with a medium/full body. Smooth texture with a long finish - I approached this bottle with some trepidation, wondering if I was going to be unearthing a corpse! My fears worsened when the cork disintegrated in the neck of the bottle. However, a few seconds after decanting all my worries were gone, wonderful forest aromas and a fantastically balanced flavour with a finish lasting minutes. Served with roast beef, this was everything I look for in a margaux, powerful, yet subtle and perfumed. Maybe a few years left before it starts to fade.
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5/27/2012 - WST wrote: flawed
This bottle was well past prime.
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11/30/2011 - WST wrote:
Drank last month, no notes. I remember is was alive but very tired...
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1/10/2009 - ATBridge wrote:
Trentieme Fete d'Anniversaire et degustation de Bordeaux mil. 1979 (Indianapolis, IN): Austere. Quite sweet at first. Pleasing mouthfeel. Surprisingly drinkable. Many tasters kept coming back to this with more than a handful placing it as #3 or #4. Not as complex as others in the same league.
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4/8/2006 - BradE wrote:
Dinner with Mike Woodhead (Elements - Santa Barbara): This was a bit of a surprise. A low rated wine, but a bottle in great shape. I thought it held its own against the 1989's, and I returned to this bottle more than any other one of the night! Nice fruit, great finish, bravo.
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10/16/2005 - gverreydt wrote:
veel hout, geëvolueerd, zacht, gaat vlot binnen, perfect in orde!
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