2019 CHÂTEAU BRANE-CANTENAC 2ème Cru Classé Margaux, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU BRANE-CANTENAC

2023 2ème Cru Classé Margaux

Grapes Merlot, Cab Sauv, Carmenère, Cab Franc
Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Margaux
Classification 2ème Cru Classé
ABV 13.5%

A great aromatic hit on the opening beats, giving way to silky tannins, spiced plum, rhubarb and slate, cassis and bilberry fruit, all showing depth and intensity. Such an accomplished wine, once again showing how it's done. 100% new oak for malolactic and ageing, 8 coopers, 28 different toasts. 45.7hl/h yields, which is generous for this vintage in the Margaux appellation. Harvest September 14 to October 2. 3.59ph. Drinking range: 2032 - 2050 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2024)


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The 2023 Brane-Cantenac is deep garnet-purple in color. Scents of blackcurrant jelly, boysenberries, and black raspberries slowly emerge from the glass, giving way to notions of charcoal, pencil lead, and a waft of tree bark. The medium-bodied palate has a solid structure of racy acidity and firm, ripe, grainy tannins supporting the tightly wound black and red fruit flavors, finishing on a lingering mineral note. The blend is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, with pH 3.59. Drinking range: 2029 - 2050 Rating: 94-96 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent (May 2024)

The 2023 Brane-Cantenac is a sensual, silky wine. There's plenty of depth and structure behind that, but the first impression is most definitely one of elegance. Crushed flowers, spice and dried herbs meld into a core of super-expressive, dark, red-toned fruit. The 100% new oak is impeccably balanced within the wine’s frame. Brane-Cantenac remains one of the best relative values in Bordeaux, or anywhere, for that matter. This is a fine effort from proprietor Henri Lurton and his team. Tasted two times. Drinking range: 2033 - 2063 Rating: 94-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (May 2024)

The blend is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon with 20% Merlot, and 1% each Carmenère, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and the fruit for this blend all comes from terrace five. Any young vines were downgraded into the Margaux de Brane rather than Baron de Brane. The harvest began September 4th, relatively early for the Médoc, and progressed with a measured pace, with up to three passes through each parcel, finishing October 2nd. The yield was 45.7 hl/ha. A rather dark and smoky nose, the aromas leaping from the glass, loaded with toast and chocolate behind notes of crushed wild flowers, dark berries, currants and acidulous summer fruits. The palate starts with a delightfully fine and polished harmony, with a fine but silky and restrained midpalate texture, loaded with salted liquorice, violets, toast and dark chocolate, with seams of powdery and elegantly extracted tannin underneath it all. This holds together very nicely into the finish, with primary fruit and powdery tannin, each working well with the other. Savoury and long in the finish, a little saline even, this shows very well. This is one of a handful of wines which seemed to get better every time I tasted it. Tasted three times. The alcohol is declared as 13.5%. Rating: 94-96 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2024)

Château Brane-Cantenac

Margaux Deuxième cru 1855 The estate was originally called Château Gorce after the family that owned it in he 18th Century, but the story really begins with its purchase by Baron Hector de Brane in 1833. Baron Hector was a well-known figure in the area, earning himself the nickname "Napoléon of the the Vines" and so keen was he to own Château Gorce that he sold Château Brane-Mouton in Pauillac to finance the purchase. Quite how much wisdom there was in ridding himself of the what was to become Château Mouton-Rothschild in order to secure the ownership of a slightly under-performing Second Growth property is debatable, but at the time the wines of the estate were consistently highly(ish) ranked. From the late 19th Century onward Brane-Cantenac followed a familiar Bordelais downward spiral. In 1920, it was purchased by the Societé des Grand Crus de France, owners of (among others) Château Margaux. In 1925, ownership passed to Léonce Récapet and his son-in-law François Lurton, but the real rennaissance of Brane-Cantenac came in 1956 when François' son - the great Lucien Lurton - took over. Today, his son Henri Lurton continues to run Château Brane-Cantenac. The period of Lurton ownership has been good to Brane-Cantenac, and the wines are consistent good performers although not really ranking alongside the best Second Growths of the Haut-Médoc, but this probably says more about the relevance of the 1855 classification than it does about the terroir and wines of Château Brane-Cantenac. Brane-Cantenac sits south-west of the village of Cantenac, next to Cantenac-Brown. There are 75ha of vineyard given over to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and a very unusual 0.5% Carmenere. The Grand Vin spends 18 months in wood, of which 50% is new every year. The second wine is called Baron de Brane in honour of Baron Hector who put the estate on the map in the early 19th Century.

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