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

CHÂTEAU BRANE-CANTENAC

2020 2ème Cru Classé Margaux

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

30HL/HA compared to 51 HL/HA last year. Spicy. Lots of toast and baked spice. Serious early feel. Lots of concentration. Clean, mineral line here. Nice restraint. Not as overly polished as sometimes here on first glance. The tannins are beautifully precise though and super fine. Really good - but more bite and serious feel than some years up front. A gorgeous compote of zippy red berries and more soft fleshed plum and red cherries in the background too. There is energy and push. So positive. Complex and layered with lovely intensity - quite tightly furled for Brane at this stage, but full of class. Some savour, some chalky bite - very impressive.
Market Insight: What we've dubbed the 'Leoville Barton of Margaux', Brane is wonderfully restrained and requires a good time in the cellar. For the price tag, for a high scoring second growth, it sticks out like a sore thumb for value. Patience is also rewarded price wise, with vintage like the 2010 over £420/6. L&S (May 2021)


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The 2020 Brane-Cantenac screams with Cabernet Sauvignon character, concentrated by the natural richness of the year. Super-ripe dark blue/black fruit, blueberry jam, crème de cassis, lavender, sage and menthol meld together, giving the Brane-Cantenac an exotic quality that is impossible to miss. The oak imprint remains quite present, but at the same time, it is well balanced. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of floral and savory notes that add character and a feeling of updated classicism. Yields were 31 hectoliters per hectare as opposed to the more typical 40 or so. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

The 2020 Brane-Cantenac was bottled towards the end of July, a little later than usual, partly due to the logistics. It takes time to open in the glass, offering gorgeous blackberry, pencil box and tobacco scents that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins and outstanding delineation. Very cohesive, this is a supremely focused Brane-Cantenac that lives up to the billing after such an impressive showing en primeur. So precise on the finish, with light graphite notes lingering on the aftertaste. Wonderful. Drinking range: 2027 - 2057 Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

This is a lovely wine and it has a velvety, spicy, dark-fruited theme and the balance is perfect. I like the exuberant flourishes of fruit here and while this is not a profound wine it is already showing a lot of charm and pleasure. I imagine it will drink well in its youth and while the tannins are not dry, they are certainly well-intentioned and so it is sure to age well in the medium term, too. Rating: 17.5 Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2021)

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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