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Who Likes This Wine(29)

  1. nick@stewartgroup.co.nz

    nick@stewartgroup…

    314 Tasting Notes

  2. J_H

    J_H

    283 Tasting Notes

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    Nutty08

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Community Tasting Notes (107) Avg Score: 91.4 points

  • Mature and earthy concentrated blackberry; textured with long elegant finish.

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  • 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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  • 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:
    - First notes of maturity apparent, delicate red fruit behind, very spicy, classic pepper / cabernet notes with the wood in the background. Is very accessible.
    - More advanced on the palate, has flavors of forest floor, underbrush, bayberries. But somehow is not very complex either, the fruit is a bit thin and not round enough, has some rough edges. Nice acidity structure.
    - 91-92 points

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  • This was lovely, many character traits of the 82 vintage. Pasty fruit, pen ink, and silky resolves tannins. This was fabulous.

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  • Solid bottle with good cork, high shoulder fill. Terrific nose of tobacco, leather and cedar notes. Still quite fresh and expressive. Mature tertiary fruits on the palate that show a pleasant fullness. Finish is moderate, with just a tincture of austerity and bitterness on the back end keeping this from being at the next level.

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Vinous

  • By Neal Martin
    Long Distance Runner: Brane-Cantenac 1924-2015 (Jan 2019), 1/1/2019, (See more on Vinous...)

    (Brane-cantenac Brane-cantenac Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

JancisRobinson.com

Vinous

  • By Stephen Tanzer
    July/August 2002, IWC Issue #103, (See more on Vinous...)

    (Chateau Brane Cantenac Margaux) Login and sign up and see review text.
  • By Neal Martin
    A Century of Bordeaux: The Twos (Sep 2022), (See more on Vinous...)

    (Brane-Cantenac Brane-Cantenac Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

RJonWine.com

  • By Richard Jennings
    7/19/2008, (See more on RJonWine.com...) 89 points

    (Château Brane-Cantenac) Light medium brick red color with clear meniscus; tart, big, shitake mushroom and leather nose; mature, leather, tobacco, and mushroom palate; medium-plus finish

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