1989 Château Brane-Cantenac

Community Tasting Notes (34) Avg Score: 91.9 points

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  2/24/2024 - Charlie Carnes Likes this wine: 94 Points

  This is always great. It’s a great example of a ready to drink, not over the top, Bordeaux, from a fairly ripe vintage, I might add. This has classic red and black cherries, and plenty of soil and mineral traits. It’s picking up secondary traits as well; aged tobacco, forest floor, air dried mahogany, furniture shop, etc. I love it as a classic Bordalais exemplar, it’s balanced, with pure fruit, and so many big pieces, that add no weight at all! Really terrific.

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  11/19/2023 - Cailles wrote: 93 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: This was the best wine in the first flight (55/82/83), a touch above the almost equally good 1983. The 1989 vintage with lots of fine fruit and a seductive character is on full display: The bouquet shows intense dark fruit and some burnt sugar notes. With time some medicinal notes. Not very complex but inviting. The palate displays a complex dark berry core with burnt sugar notes, fresh herbs and crushed rocks. Quite complete and balanced with a melted tannin structure and good tension and freshness. Easily 93+pts.
  
  Decanting: Not decanted. It seemed that this vintage doesn’t need much air. A short decant should be sufficient.

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  10/15/2023 - Michael T. Zoppo Likes this wine:

  WOTN. Medium bodied, lots of earthy / savory notes, clean dark red fruit, super silky tannins, and a long finish. This is ready to go; I don’t see any room for improvement.

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  9/10/2023 - J_H Likes this wine: 93 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:
  - Significantly more intensity and fruit, also first hints of dark fruit recognizable. Rather red and dark plums, currants.
  - Very nice on the palate with polished tannins, still has some tannins but is a lot of fun, very great structure. With nice acidity to the finish.
  - Striking here in this flight (compared to 1955, 1982) that there is the most fruit and balance.
  - 93-94 points

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  8/19/2023 - Apotheca wrote: 89 Points

  PnP. Brick color taint, still dark-ish. Roses, dark berries and a touch of pencil lead. Although polished, the tannins are still present. The acidity plays nicely along with the fruit, making this a pleasure to drink. Lacking a bit of complexity. However: pairing this wine with beef tartare along with chantarelle, makes this a pairing made in heaven. Alone: 89p. Pairing: 93p.

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