2002 Château Brane-Cantenac

Community Tasting Notes (55) Avg Score: 89.9 points

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  12/25/2023 - geraldsng Likes this wine:

  Absolutely firing on all cylinders now. Initially muted but with 2h bottle air the true floral aromatics emerged. Tannins somewhat grippy still but the palate was otherwise round, supple and juicy. 13% and a joy to drink now

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  11/19/2023 - Cailles wrote: 89 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: I very much liked the delicate nature of this wine. Everything seemed well put together with some fine dark fruit, cola and oak notes at the core. Unfortunately, there were some green aromas which became quite apparent on the palate and which detracted from the otherwise classic Bordeaux signature.
  
  Decanting: Not decanted. A short decant should be sufficient.

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  9/10/2023 - J_H Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Vertical of 20 vintages - Chateau Brane-Cantenac: It was a pleasure to taste 20 vintages of Brane-Cantenac. All wines were tasted blind and with little time (10min per flight of 4 wines). Coming from the Margaux appellation, the wine convinced 1) with its accessibility of all vintages, 2) often very feminine and fresh vinification and 3) especially the consistency of quality to be emphasized. So it was not surprising that all 20 bottles (for the first time in this tasting with 12 people) were empty. At the same time, it could also be noted that the very great complexity for ratings above 94 points is often somewhat lacking. Very exciting to observe were the significant change in fruit. Until the 2009 vintage, this was often primarily red-fruited, light and very strongly Cabernet influenced. From the 2009 vintage on, a clear shift to more extraction and sweetness of the fruit is noticeable. The last, often great vintages from 2015 to 2020 are ripe but still with a good freshness/acidity (except for 2015 according to my impression).
  
  Tasting Note:
  - The first vintage of this tasting (all before were 1999 an older) with a bit more sweet fruit, here it loses the filigree, Cabernet driven fruit aspect more towards ripe fruit. Also wood and vanilla noticeable.
  - Some green flavors or bitterness, or too high acidity. The palate lacks a bit of balance.

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  12/16/2021 - Barks Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Drank a bottle this evening and very enjoyable. Opened up beautifully and had a wonderful nose. On the leaner side but still delicious.

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  11/21/2021 - Eudemis Likes this wine:

  13% alcohol. The cork is average, both in size and in density, but wine penetration is minimal. Decanted an hour ahead. The colour is deep with some bricking at the edge of the rim.
  Very good dark fruited nose with pleasant tertiary notes of leather; pretty elegant.
  The mouth is less inviting initially, with the acidity sticking out a bit too much; oak and tannins are largely resolved. However, this wine comes into its own with roasted lamb when its structure and its relative leanness become a welcome foil to the richness of the meat.
  Maybe a Margaux that leans towards St Estèphe, which might unsettle some people. Not a lot of concentration either, which can probably be traced back to the vintage (worse in southern Médoc than in the Northern part in my experience).
  Probably not worthy of its lofty classification, but a pretty good Médoc in the right context.

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