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

CHÂTEAU BRANE-CANTENAC

2021 2ème Cru Classé Margaux

IN STOCK
Grapes Carmenère, Cab Franc, Merlot, Cab Sauv
Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Margaux
Classification 2ème Cru Classé
ABV 13%

The 2021 Brane-Cantenac clearly has less fruit than the 2019 and 2020, though it retains delineation and focus as blackberry meets graphite and pencil shavings. It simmers with anticipation, but will never deliver aromatics like the previous two vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit and fine delineation, not as complex or as pixelated as the best vintages, but there is plenty of fruit on the finish and a surprisingly sweet aftertaste. Give this four to five years in bottle. Tasted at the Brane-Cantenac vertical at the château in September 2025. Drinking range: 2029 - 2049 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Sept 2025)

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One of the few with violet reflections to the ruby body, with austerity and cool vintage expression of blueberry and raspberry fruits, well defined and sculpted, good juice and lift, impressive purity and power, with a sandalwood swirl of 100% new oak for ageing. Harvest September 23 to October 7, 41hl/h yield. Drinking range: 2027 - 2041 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2024)

The 2021 Brane-Cantenac is a classy, elegant wine. The aromatics alone are so enticing. Crushed flowers, sweet pipe tobacco, mint, rose petal and cedar open first. The 74% Cabernet Sauvignon is a bit higher than in most years, which comes through in the wine's aromatic and structural profile. The 2021 is quiet and understated. Élevage was 18 months in 100% new French oak, but the wood is not at all evident—an important and positive sign regarding the wine's overall balance. Even so, the 2021 is a subdued Brane-Cantenac, one that needs time in bottle to shine at its brightest. Drinking range: 2031 - 2061 Rating: 95 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2024)

The first thing that I notice on the 2021 Brane-Cantenac is that the color is conspicuously deeper than that of the Deuxième Vin. The nose has exquisite, very pure and delineated scents of raspberry and blackcurrant, with a touch of pencil box and cedar. There is almost a Burgundy-like allure to these aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. Classic in style with a clean bead of acidity, there is a noticeable saline/estuarine aspect to this Brane. It’s focused and poised with quite a peppery finish (more-so than out of barrel). Whilst it has no desire to match the imperial heights of other recent vintages, this will allow for perfect drinking over the next 20-odd years. Excellent. Drinking range: 2028 - 2055 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 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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