1955 Château Brane-Cantenac

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 90 points

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  11/19/2023 - Cailles wrote: 91 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 a good wine with still some life left in the tank. As often with very old bottles, you need to give them a bit of time and air to gain intensity and complexity. This was a wine with a good flavor intensity and a finely melted structure, as well as some aromas (like mushroom) you only get in very old Bordeauxs as the highlights. On the nose there are dark berries and earthy minerality and some herbs as well as some medicinal notes. The palate had additional notes of mushrooms which were quite exciting as well as some coffee notes with some time. While not very complex, this is still quite good with lots of finesse and a good balance from start to finish. Solid 91/92pts.
  
  Decanting: Not decanted. A short decant should be enough.

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  9/10/2023 - J_H Likes this wine: 91 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:
  - Accessible nose, similar to 1982 with even more Cabarnet fruit, peppers, tomatoey, foliage, lots of mushrooms and more advanced.
  - Fairly similar to the nose, likewise lacks some ripeness of fruit here, is a bit rustic and not round enough for my taste. A bit one-sided, with rough edges. Has almost Burgundian hints, very light.
  - 91 points

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  4/1/2019 - BouzyRouge wrote: 85 Points

  Lightweight and long past its peak but still very pleasant.

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  11/2/2012 - wineismylife Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Friday night for ckinv368's Birthday (Farnatchi, Dallas, Texas): WIML93
  
  Tasted non blind. Opened and allowed to slow-O a bit before serving.
  
  Garnet color in the glass, fairly clear looking. Nose of saddle soap, leather, anise, pepper and wet stones. Solid flavors of berries, cherries and raspberries. Medium to tart acidity, medium tannins, full bodied. Drink or hold.

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