CHÂTEAU BRANE-CANTENAC
2012 2ème Cru Classé Margaux
Henri Lurton has pulled out another great wine here - proper claret with beginning, middle and end, quite ripe and intense but retaining dryness and drive. Pretty serious. Rating: 92 L&S (May 2013)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2012 Brane-Cantenac was a relatively late-ripening vintage for which harvest finished on October 16. This is far better than the 2011 with more fruit and vigour. Finely delineated blackberry, wild hedgerow and graphite scents continue to lend it a Pauillac-like allure. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and vivid black fruit laced with white pepper, leather and tobacco. Very harmonious and quite elegant in style, this has a very endearing poise on the finish. The 2012 is just entering its drinking window now and should give another 20 years' drinking pleasure. Impressive for the vintage. Tasted at the Brane-Cantenac vertical at the château in September 2025. Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Sept 2025)
The 2012 Brane-Cantenac has a clean and fresh bouquet, more mineral-driven than its peers, vivid and bright with beautifully integrated oak. The palate is medium-bodied with a savoury entry, quite irony in style and more linear than the aromatics suggest. There is just a touch of dryness towards the finish that makes me question whether it will go anywhere interesting in the future. Tasted blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2035 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Sept 2022)
The 2012 Brane-Cantenac was picked from September 27 to October 16. It has a straight-down-the-fairway, classic nose for this estate, featuring open tobacco and graphite aromas that display great vivacity. You would think this was a Pauillac if tasted blind. The medium-bodied palate is more saline compared to previous bottles, delivering fine tannin and a tang of white pepper and fennel toward the finish that lingers in the mouth. This was a big surprise, but the 2012s have really blossomed in bottle, and this is no different. Tasted at the Brane-Cantenac vertical at the château. Drinking range: 2021 - 2045 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jan 2019)
Fresh, red berry nose with a leafy note as well. Smooth texture. Supple and velvety with refreshing acidity behind. Linear and direct on the finish. Appetising and balanced, just misses a little density. (Lawther's best value from Margaux 2012.)James Lawther MW, decanter.com (May 2015)
The fruit feels ripe with both nose and palate having lots of cassis and black cherry. Plum fills out the mid palate enriched by liquorice and chocolate with the sweetness of the fruit fleshing out the back palate and finish. 2020-30 Rating: 90-93 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Dec 2013)
The Brane-Cantenac 2012 is a blend of 32% Merlot and 68% Cabernet Sauvignon and represents 32% of production. It has a slightly muted bouquet with light graphite and mineral notes that need several minutes to really unwind. The palate is medium-bodied with rather abrasive tannins that encase blackberry and raspberry notes with hints of sea salt. It is a conservative Brane-Cantenac and it feels a little raw at the moment. Then again, it often tastes exactly like this en primeur before improving in bottle, so let us see. Rating: 88-90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2013)
Deep red-ruby. Blackcurrant, licorice and a whiff of smoke on the nose. Fresh, expressive flavors of redcurrant, tobacco, fresh herbs and bitter chocolate are enlivened by good vinosity. Finishes with building but ripe tannins, a delicate herbal touch and a restrained sweetness. Rating: 87-90 Ian d'Agata, www.vinousmedia.com (May 2013)
A beauty from Henri Lurton, the 2012 Brane Cantenac exhibits classic notes of spring flowers intermixed with black raspberries, black currants and damp forest floor. This medium-bodied, sweet, ripe, quintessentially elegant, medium-bodied Margaux is nicely concentrated as well as sexy. Enjoy it over the next 10-12 years. 2013 - 2025 Rating: 90-92 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, www.RobertParker.com (Apr 2013)
One of the best wines in Margaux, as it often is, Henri Lurton’s 2012 is typically fragrant, subtle and well judged, expressing its terroir rather than imposing a style on it. Tobacco and cedar wood are balanced by medium weight, granular tannins and refreshing mineral, cassis and red fruit flavours. Drink: 2020-30. Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2013)
Superb colour, fine floral bouquet, very smooth extraction of fruit and fine, classy, very Margaux texture and length. Drink: 2016 - 2028 Rating: 17.5 Steven Spurrier (Apr 2013)
Dark crimson. Firm, fully ripe palate (contrasts with the lesser appellations of the southern Médoc). Spreads across the palate. Quite lip smacking and well judged. Not too sweet and, just, not too oaky. Broad. 2020 - 2034. Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2013)
Rating: 17 Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Apr 2013)
Plush, with a legitimate structure buried in the core of steeped plum and blackberry fruit. A warm stone note lurks in the background. Well-rendered Rating: 90-93 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2013)
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.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.