Beautiful nose on this of dark fruits, charcoal, lead pencil, minerals and hints of incense and some high-toned floral notes as well. This was decanted several hours and followed over 2 nights, and really sang after just an hour or two of air time. This bottle was better than the previous and with 10+ years of aging I can definitely see this going up a couple of points. Everything in balance (if a little oaky at the moment, but that will be absorbed into the fruit in time). Medium-to full bodied. Classy wine. One to stock up on and age a while. Rating: 93+
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On the nose, lots of blackberry, blackcurrant, and plums. Some violets, graphite, and licorice. Quite tight and austere still but there is plenty of fruit and spice, a slight truffle-like note on the finnish. Creamy oak is present and will be integrated with age. Fresh and complex. Balanced and elegant, no drying tannins despite the youthful austerity of this wine.
Would be fun to do a side by side with Lagrange. Lagrange is more serious, unctuous, spice driven. Branaire is ethereal, airy, with an emphasis on fruit yet still has substance.
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Decanted two hours. Consumed over three days. Plum. Stewed Blueberry. Graphite. No. 2 Pencil. Warm metal fence. Dark Chocolate. Red Cherry. It's textbook and it's lovely. Obviously young, but I was curious. Feels like it's dialed to age quite nicely. Much better on days two and three. Glad to have more; Won't touch the rest for a while.
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Blueberry and plums on the nose, slightly hot. On the palate, blueberry, blackberry, pencil lead. Medium body. Not what I'd consider super oaky. The notes are there but I feel like I have to dig deep to get at them, even on day 2. It's certainly has a great future but I think it's very tight and young right now. I'm sure my score will improve in 10 years.
Very tannic and closed on day one, but on day two blossomed with a plethora of dark fruits (blueberry/blackberry), toasted new oak notes, and that lead pencil note I love in BDX. This will be a really nice wine in 10-20 years, when I think it will go up by several points. If drinking now, do a long decant, but really this is one best left forgotten for 10+ years (I cracked one open to assess the vintage.) I find the 2019 Branaire a notch better than the 2020 in terms of midpalate density, but they are close in quality. A producer and vintage to seek out if you can get it for under $50.
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dark purplish ruby and good body. generous yet elegant and floral nose with violets, herbs and cedar wafting thru the cassis and blackberry aromas. with agreeable density in the mouth, good acidity and very polished though grippy tannins, it is starting to show its cards. sweet and saline accents and some tobacco and spice notes interplay beautifully in the fruit layers. moderately long.
remarkably open already (for a 2020), this should be in its window in just a couple of years with a potentially long life.
13.5% AbV; 58% CS/ 32% ME/ 7% PV/ 3% CF
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Everything Dera says below...I cannot improve on that review. Much thanks to HMC for bringing it tonight. About 7 oz. left in a sealed glass bottle to try tomorrow......I should say that I normally love BD at 15 years of age but this modern one is quite nice and rich for a St. Julien. Heavily Merlot driven at this point, even though supposedly there's only around 25-30% Merlot in this blend.
Very dark ruby, nose has cassis and dark earthy coffee tones, tobacco, cedarwood. Medium bodied, red fruits, vanilla/chocolate from oak that softens with air, silky and somewhat opulent style. Finishes medium+ length and complex with pleasant smooth tannins.
From 375ml. This was really nice and accessible. Sauve and polished, with rather seamless integration of tannins that are mouth coating but rather velvety. Nice mix of blue leaning fruit with some fresh red notes. Nose shows some elegant fruit and flint notes. While enjoyable now this shows lots of promise. Oak notes still need to integrate.
Quite intense deep nose with cassis, plum and lovely perfumed. Medium to full bodied palate with dense sweet fruit and also some dryness to balance. Becomes even more intense in the long finish. Elegant for bdx and you feel its still hiding something, but its easy to drink and enjoy today.
En Primeur campaign for the 2022 vintage Day Four (Bordeaux): Popped and poured…Very closed…a little plum, rubber, smells dense. With a fairly vigorous shake starts to show a little black currant, a little pyrazine, touch of almost baked notes and concentrated savoury and saline dark fruits, lend an almost meaty quality. medium plus intensity acidity, dark hued fruits; plums; blackcurrant, polished oak, talc textured and persistent tannins, a little sweet spice and non-intrusive alcohol warmth on the finish. Hmm.
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Quite perfumed, the complex nose offers cigar box, tobacco, spearmint, wet earth, mocha, spice, black currants and dark cherry aromas to get things going. Medium/full-bodied with a silky, fresh, refined character to its layers of ripe, sweet, mildly-spiced, red pit fruits on the palate, the finish is complex, as well as refined and currently discreet. Clearly, this is one of the top vintages from Branaire Ducru that fans of the estate should definitely have in their cellar. Drink from 2026-2055.
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The 2020 Branaire-Ducru really is a pretty wine with a nice attack; cassis and tobacco leaf and accented by a slightly floral, potpourri-like note. Velvety tannin; svelte, nice acid. Finishes quite nicely.
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(58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 13.5% Alkohol) Anfangs still, braucht etwas Zeit, zeigt dann eine delikate, dunkle Cassisfrucht, dazu Schwarzkirschen und Brombeere, deutliche Mineralik. Im Auftakt hochelegant, still, distanziert und mit einer erhabenen Struktur, perfekt reife Frucht, feinste Tannine. Langer Abgang mit dunkelfruchtiger Rückaromatik. Kann reifen. 2028-2045+ (Verkostet am 8. November 2022 in Zürich) www.vvwine.ch
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En-Primeur campaign for the 2021 vintage; 4/25/2022-4/29/2022 (Bordeaux): Ripe, thick, dense black fruits with a red currant underpin, polished oak lends caramel, toast, clean. Medium plus intensity acidity and medium plus intensity tight, chewy tannins that are persistent and grainy join medium plus intensity (a theme is emerging) fruit and oak flavours. Fruit is a black hued melange. Long. Big. Okay but time required.
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92-94 vvPunkte (58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 13.5% Alkohol) Expressiv, reiffruchtig, viel Cassis, Brombeergelee, Kirsche, Kräuter, dahinter steinige Noten. Der Gaumen wirkt fleischig, satte Frucht, reifes, fein gewobenes, markantes Tannin, knackig und saftig, hochreif, aber dennoch balanciert. Im Abgang von sehr guter Länge. Muss seine Harmonie noch finden, doch die Anlagen sind sehr gut. 2028-2045 (April/Mai 2021)
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Cedar, tobacco, red and black currants, mocha, spice and smoke come through loud and clear in the nose. Soft, silky and supple, the fresh red fruits are already quite expressive creating a refined, medium/full-bodied, silky, wine with purity, character and precision. This will drink well with 7--8 years of aging and will age and develop quite nicely. 93-95
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2020 First Look: Branaire offers a fresh, fine-boned, undeniably appealing 2020 with fresh chestnut and pencil on the nose transitioning to a supple, red berry palate with a clean finish. 91-93
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This has an open feel, although it required some coaxing to bring out that typical Branaire floral quality. Some attractive sweeter elements too, and an easy blue fruit character. This has a lovely texture – very silky and creamy (though not ‘sweet’) – it remains cool, elegant, and perfectly fresh with a persistent spicy floral note. Good intensity and follow through, super definition too.
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5/6/2024 - hiybwz Likes this wine:
Purple-ruby. Young tannins. High acid. Blueberry, cassis. Very aromatic, floral. Graphite. Hint of cloves.
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4/3/2024 - Everything Ahead wrote: 93 Points
Beautiful nose on this of dark fruits, charcoal, lead pencil, minerals and hints of incense and some high-toned floral notes as well. This was decanted several hours and followed over 2 nights, and really sang after just an hour or two of air time. This bottle was better than the previous and with 10+ years of aging I can definitely see this going up a couple of points. Everything in balance (if a little oaky at the moment, but that will be absorbed into the fruit in time). Medium-to full bodied. Classy wine. One to stock up on and age a while. Rating: 93+
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3/27/2024 - Chupeaka Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still really young. Will really improve with age.
On the nose, lots of blackberry, blackcurrant, and plums. Some violets, graphite, and licorice. Quite tight and austere still but there is plenty of fruit and spice, a slight truffle-like note on the finnish. Creamy oak is present and will be integrated with age. Fresh and complex. Balanced and elegant, no drying tannins despite the youthful austerity of this wine.
Would be fun to do a side by side with Lagrange. Lagrange is more serious, unctuous, spice driven. Branaire is ethereal, airy, with an emphasis on fruit yet still has substance.
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3/11/2024 - realstevebeam Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted two hours. Consumed over three days.
Plum. Stewed Blueberry. Graphite. No. 2 Pencil. Warm metal fence. Dark Chocolate. Red Cherry. It's textbook and it's lovely. Obviously young, but I was curious. Feels like it's dialed to age quite nicely. Much better on days two and three. Glad to have more; Won't touch the rest for a while.
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2/10/2024 - CondorKhan wrote: 91 Points
Infanticide for science.
Blueberry and plums on the nose, slightly hot. On the palate, blueberry, blackberry, pencil lead. Medium body. Not what I'd consider super oaky. The notes are there but I feel like I have to dig deep to get at them, even on day 2. It's certainly has a great future but I think it's very tight and young right now. I'm sure my score will improve in 10 years.
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2/5/2024 - Everything Ahead wrote: 92 Points
Very tannic and closed on day one, but on day two blossomed with a plethora of dark fruits (blueberry/blackberry), toasted new oak notes, and that lead pencil note I love in BDX. This will be a really nice wine in 10-20 years, when I think it will go up by several points. If drinking now, do a long decant, but really this is one best left forgotten for 10+ years (I cracked one open to assess the vintage.) I find the 2019 Branaire a notch better than the 2020 in terms of midpalate density, but they are close in quality. A producer and vintage to seek out if you can get it for under $50.
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1/27/2024 - WindFlyer Likes this wine: 93 Points
dark purplish ruby and good body. generous yet elegant and floral nose with violets, herbs and cedar wafting thru the cassis and blackberry aromas. with agreeable density in the mouth, good acidity and very polished though grippy tannins, it is starting to show its cards. sweet and saline accents and some tobacco and spice notes interplay beautifully in the fruit layers. moderately long.
remarkably open already (for a 2020), this should be in its window in just a couple of years with a potentially long life.
13.5% AbV; 58% CS/ 32% ME/ 7% PV/ 3% CF
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1/14/2024 - Madera16 wrote:
UGC - good complex texture, rich nose.
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1/1/2024 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 93 Points
Everything Dera says below...I cannot improve on that review. Much thanks to HMC for bringing it tonight. About 7 oz. left in a sealed glass bottle to try tomorrow......I should say that I normally love BD at 15 years of age but this modern one is quite nice and rich for a St. Julien. Heavily Merlot driven at this point, even though supposedly there's only around 25-30% Merlot in this blend.
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12/31/2023 - dera Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very dark ruby, nose has cassis and dark earthy coffee tones, tobacco, cedarwood.
Medium bodied, red fruits, vanilla/chocolate from oak that softens with air, silky and somewhat opulent style.
Finishes medium+ length and complex with pleasant smooth tannins.
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12/16/2023 - JRoman23 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Am just trying to get into Bordeaux and this was a nice find at Costco. Very approachable and balanced right now. Age will def help this one.
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9/4/2023 - Nutty08 Likes this wine: 93 Points
From 375ml. This was really nice and accessible. Sauve and polished, with rather seamless integration of tannins that are mouth coating but rather velvety. Nice mix of blue leaning fruit with some fresh red notes. Nose shows some elegant fruit and flint notes. While enjoyable now this shows lots of promise. Oak notes still need to integrate.
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6/10/2023 - PlanetX wrote:
Union Grands Crus Bordeaux (UGC) 2020 Tasting (Hangar 14, Bordeaux): Very tight core of fruit which needs to expand. Time will tell. Perhaps the pour was from a just opened bottle given the tightness. Not fair to score based on this sample.
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5/17/2023 - Whitman wrote: 93 Points
Quite intense deep nose with cassis, plum and lovely perfumed. Medium to full bodied palate with dense sweet fruit and also some dryness to balance. Becomes even more intense in the long finish. Elegant for bdx and you feel its still hiding something, but its easy to drink and enjoy today.
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4/25/2023 - chatters wrote:
En Primeur campaign for the 2022 vintage Day Four (Bordeaux): Popped and poured…Very closed…a little plum, rubber, smells dense. With a fairly vigorous shake starts to show a little black currant, a little pyrazine, touch of almost baked notes and concentrated savoury and saline dark fruits, lend an almost meaty quality. medium plus intensity acidity, dark hued fruits; plums; blackcurrant, polished oak, talc textured and persistent tannins, a little sweet spice and non-intrusive alcohol warmth on the finish. Hmm.
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3/21/2023 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Quite perfumed, the complex nose offers cigar box, tobacco, spearmint, wet earth, mocha, spice, black currants and dark cherry aromas to get things going. Medium/full-bodied with a silky, fresh, refined character to its layers of ripe, sweet, mildly-spiced, red pit fruits on the palate, the finish is complex, as well as refined and currently discreet. Clearly, this is one of the top vintages from Branaire Ducru that fans of the estate should definitely have in their cellar. Drink from 2026-2055.
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3/6/2023 - Zweder wrote: 94 Points
UGCB tasting Bordeaux 2020 Walkaround tasting so in general just short notes (Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam.): Beautiful and elegant bouquet with beautiful red and dark berries as well as well dosed oak. Same on the palate, juicy acidity and good tannin with a pleasant bite. 93 – 94
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1/29/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 93 Points
The 2020 Branaire-Ducru really is a pretty wine with a nice attack; cassis and tobacco leaf and accented by a slightly floral, potpourri-like note. Velvety tannin; svelte, nice acid. Finishes quite nicely.
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1/9/2023 - vvWine.ch wrote: 94 Points
(58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 13.5% Alkohol) Anfangs still, braucht etwas Zeit, zeigt dann eine delikate, dunkle Cassisfrucht, dazu Schwarzkirschen und Brombeere, deutliche Mineralik. Im Auftakt hochelegant, still, distanziert und mit einer erhabenen Struktur, perfekt reife Frucht, feinste Tannine. Langer Abgang mit dunkelfruchtiger Rückaromatik. Kann reifen. 2028-2045+ (Verkostet am 8. November 2022 in Zürich) www.vvwine.ch
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4/26/2022 - chatters wrote:
En-Primeur campaign for the 2021 vintage; 4/25/2022-4/29/2022 (Bordeaux): Ripe, thick, dense black fruits with a red currant underpin, polished oak lends caramel, toast, clean. Medium plus intensity acidity and medium plus intensity tight, chewy tannins that are persistent and grainy join medium plus intensity (a theme is emerging) fruit and oak flavours. Fruit is a black hued melange. Long. Big. Okay but time required.
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5/22/2021 - vvWine.ch wrote: 93 Points
92-94 vvPunkte (58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 13.5% Alkohol) Expressiv, reiffruchtig, viel Cassis, Brombeergelee, Kirsche, Kräuter, dahinter steinige Noten. Der Gaumen wirkt fleischig, satte Frucht, reifes, fein gewobenes, markantes Tannin, knackig und saftig, hochreif, aber dennoch balanciert. Im Abgang von sehr guter Länge. Muss seine Harmonie noch finden, doch die Anlagen sind sehr gut. 2028-2045 (April/Mai 2021)
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5/20/2021 - Jeff Leve wrote: 94 Points
Cedar, tobacco, red and black currants, mocha, spice and smoke come through loud and clear in the nose. Soft, silky and supple, the fresh red fruits are already quite expressive creating a refined, medium/full-bodied, silky, wine with purity, character and precision. This will drink well with 7--8 years of aging and will age and develop quite nicely. 93-95
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5/14/2021 - Peter Z. Likes this wine: 94 Points
primeur sample
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5/6/2021 - Shrewsram Likes this wine: 93 Points
Near opaque
Fragrant, floral nose and raspberry jam, and crushed rocks. Cool.
Fresh attack, juicy and lifted and bright, juicy with fragrant red fruit. Juicy, with a stony mineral finish.
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4/28/2021 - englishman's claret wrote:
2020 First Look: Branaire offers a fresh, fine-boned, undeniably appealing 2020 with fresh chestnut and pencil on the nose transitioning to a supple, red berry palate with a clean finish. 91-93
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4/27/2021 - Yorgos wrote: 93 Points
Inviting nose of ripe dark and red cherries, dark berries, floral and lefy. Medium bodied, polished with balancing acidity and medium tannins. 93-94
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4/20/2021 - Shrewsram Likes this wine: 92 Points
This has an open feel, although it required some coaxing to bring out that typical Branaire floral quality. Some attractive sweeter elements too, and an easy blue fruit character. This has a lovely texture – very silky and creamy (though not ‘sweet’) – it remains cool, elegant, and perfectly fresh with a persistent spicy floral note. Good intensity and follow through, super definition too.
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