Dani Ruiz Sanchez

9.3

Maravilloso , rojo brillante, afrutado negro.
— 6 years ago

Brett Rogosin

9.1

Very tasty. Sweet roses, vanilla, baked bread, and very ripe red fruit. I’d drink this daily...as long as it pairs well to food. I’m curious how this will develop with age. — 6 years ago

Chris Regina

9.3

Coffee. Fig Newton. Black currant. Prune. Camphor nose. Soy sauce. Cassis. Brambly. Strawberry Raspberry. — 6 years ago

Dani Ruiz Sanchez

9.3

Grande. Cuerpo de hombre en un vino de 3 años. Muy intenso, rojo brillante con tonos oscuros. — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

I have a six-pack of this 05. I thought after 10 years in bottle, it would be interesting to check in on its evolution. While tasty, I’ll wait another 8-10 to open another. Even after 2-3 hours in the decanter, it’s still a very young adolescent. On the nose, slightly sour blackberries & dark cherries, dark currants, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, anise, whiff of spice, steeped tea, dry stones, dry crushed rocks with dry top soil, caramel, vanilla with fresh & dry red florals. The body is thick & full. Tannins are starting to round out. It’s velvety on the palate. The fruits are; bright, fresh & ripe and really show the greatness of the 05 vintage. Dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, baked strawberries, cherries, raspberries on the long set, dark spice, clay & loamy dry top soil with crushed rocks, dry stones, cigar with ash, graphite, dry stems, slight herbaceous character, mint, used leather, clove, caramel, vanilla, fresh & dry red florals with violets. The round acidity is about perfect. The structure and length are still strong. The balance is in harmony. As for the long finish, it’s lush, ruby, rich and well polished. Photos of; Chateau Brane Cantenac, large wood vats, Henri Lurton and Estate vines. Producer notes and history...Chateau Brane Cantenac began in the early 17th century. At the time, the estate was known as Domaine Guilhem Hosten. Even that far back, wine was produced from the property. In fact, the wine was so highly regarded it was one of the more expensive wines in Bordeaux. It sold for almost as much money as Brane Mouton. This is interesting because of who went on to buy the vineyard in the 1800’s. The Baron of Brane, also known as “Napoleon of the Vineyards”, purchased the Chateau in 1833. At the time of the sale, the estate was called Chateau Gorce-Guy. To get the funds needed to purchase the Margaux vineyard, the Baron sold what is now called Mouton Rothschild, which was at the time of the sale, known as Chateau Brane-Mouton. Not such a good move with hundreds of years in hindsight! In 1838, the Baron renamed property taking his name and the name of the sector where the vineyards were located and called it Chateau Brane Cantenac. The Chateau later passed to the Roy family, who were well-known in the Margaux appellation in those days, as they owned Chateau d’issan. Moving ahead to 1920, the Societe des Grands Crus de France, a group of merchants and growers that owned several chateaux located in the Medoc including; Chateau Margaux, Chateau Giscours, and Chateau Lagrange in St. Julien, purchased Chateau Brane Cantenac. Five years later, M. Recapet and his son-in-law, François Lurton, took over Brane Cantenac along with Chateau Margaux. Lucien Lurton (the son of François Lurton) inherited Brane Cantenac in 1956. Today, the estate is still in the hands of the Lurton family. Brane Cantenac is owned and run by Henri Lurton. After being given the responsibility of managing Brane Cantenac, it was under the direction of Henri Lurton that large portions of the vineyard were replanted. Vine densities were increased, the drainage systems were improved and the plantings were also, slowly changed. The vineyard of Brane Cantenac is planted to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and .5% Carmenere. Carmenere was used for the first time in the 2011 vintage. The only other Chateau I know that still uses Carmenere is Clerc Milon. The 75 hectare Left Bank vineyard of Brane Cantenac is essentially unchanged since it earned Second Growth status in the 1855 Classification. At least that is the case with the 45 hectares used to produce the Grand Vin of Brane Cantenac. Those 45 hectares are planted surrounding the Chateau. Those vines are located just in front of the Cantenac plateau and are the best terroir that Brane Cantenac owns. They have other parcels, which are further inland and much of those grapes are placed into their second wine, Le Baron de Brane. Those additional hectares can be divided into 3 main sections. Behind the Chateau, they have 15 hectares of vines on gravel and sand, 10 hectares across the road with sand, gravel and iron and a 13 hectare parcel with gravel called Notton, which is used for their second wine. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,666 vines per hectare on the plateau and up to 8,000 vines per hectare for the vines located behind chateau, in their sandier soils. The higher levels of vine density are always found in the newer plantings. The terroir of Brane Cantenac consists of deep gravel, sand and clay soil. Experiments in the vineyards are currently looking at becoming more organic in their vineyard management. Today, more than 25% of Brane Cantenac is farmed using organic farming techniques. It is expected that over time, the amount of hectares farmed with organic methods will be increased. Brane Cantenac has gone through 2 relatively recent modernization’s in 1999, when they added began adding the first of their smaller vats to allow for parcel by parcel vinification and then again in 2015 when they completed a much more complete renovation of their cellars and vat rooms. While Brane Cantenac is a traditional producer, they are no stranger to technology as they were one of the first estates to embrace optical grape sorting machines. In very wet vintages, they can also use reverse osmosis. To produce the wine of Chateau Brane Cantenac, the wine is vinified in a combination of temperature controlled, traditional, 22 oak vats, 18 concrete tanks and 20 stainless steel vats that vary in size from 40 hectoliters all the way up to 200 hectoliters, which allows for parcel by parcel vinification. 40% of the fermentation takes place in the oak vats. The oldest vines are vinified in vats that are selected to allow for separate parcel by parcel vinification. The younger vines are vinified more often together in the same vats. However, the Carmenere is entirely micro-vinified, meaning that those grapes were completely vinified in barrel, using micro-vinification techniques. This can also happen because the amount of grapes produced is so small. Some vats can be co-inoculated, meaning they go through alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation simultaneously. At Chateau Brane Cantenac, malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of French oak tanks and barrels. The wine of Brane Cantenac is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for 18 months before bottling. The initial 2 months of aging is done with the wine on its lees, which adds more depth to the wine. There second wine is Le Baron de Brane. Le Baron de Brane is not new. In fact, previously, the second wine went under the name of Chateau Notton, which took its name from one of the main parcels where the grapes were planted. During the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s, having a second wine was important as the estate declassified 3 vintages, due to extremely poor, weather conditions in 1956, 1960 and 1963. Production of Chateau Brane Cantenac is about 11,000 cases per year. — 8 years ago

Richard Jennings

9.6

Another shot of the mega delicious 2010 Vina Sastre Pesus (97 points) — 13 years ago

Austin Hohnke

9.1

Deep. Plums. Earth. Lightly vegetal.
Showing it’s Biodynamicism. Drinking beautifully. — 6 years ago

Evan Bienstock

9.2

Smokey chicken on the Green Egg and a 10yr old Rioja. This wine is big; everywhere. It needs time. But I’m 10 years it will be a-mazing. Terrific now. — 6 years ago

Lindsey Mears

10

Anniversary dinner at Seven Reasons. AMAZING wine! Medium bodied. Spicy on the end. Comforting and beautiful. Paired with butternut squash cacao tart, lamp with pepita sauce, and Argentine steak — 7 years ago

Alan Doughty

9.6

Gorgeous flavors of coconut, dark fruit, wild hebs, mushroom and floral notes. Medium bodied, fresh acidity perfectly integrated with the intensity of the fruit. — 8 years ago

Joakim Bogström

9.3

Awesome balance. Feels and tastes Bordeaux. Red fruits, dried dark fruits, tobacco, dried herbs. Quite interesting notes of mint. Medium high integrated acidity. Semi full bodied w/ hints of oak. But not distinctive, as it osften is in Cali wines.
Medium finish.
Great wine. — 9 years ago

Mike stellfox

8.9

Full bodied earthy deep flavor — 10 years ago

Oscar Lopez

9.0

100 % Verdejo, unión de vino fermentado en depósito y vino fermentado en barrica. Vino Verdejo diferente. Interesante hermano pequeño. — 10 years ago

Kaitlin Ohlinger

9.0

100% Viura, tightly wound, beautiful acid, wax bean, bright citrus. — 10 years ago

Matté

Manager The Wine Cellars

8.9

Sleek but lacking in genuine character. — 10 years ago

Ryan Watson

8.9

I'm partial to Spanish wines and this is no exception. It can stand alone as a solid Tempranillo or it an be (as I discovered last night) the rich topping on a very refreshing mixed drink. — 12 years ago

Gary Kingsbury

9.0

Karen and I enjoyed this very much. — 12 years ago

Kristian Sandberg

9.6

An excellent wine from 2005 with a trace of vanilla. — 13 years ago

Stephanie Kruger

9.5

Bought this French white wine to cook with, turns out it’s a killer bottle to drink, too. 😍 — 6 years ago

Jeff Thompson

10

Absolutely wonderful. Nice vanilla bourbon on the nose. A gentle and easy sip while still feeling aged. Fruity as well. So wonderful. Great with Unami & Dijon Turkey burgers! — 6 years ago

David D

9.1

Medium–light bodied. Really faint tannins and mellow acids. Violets, herbs, earthy. At first taste was afraid it was too fruit forward but it quickly developed into a drier, more savory profile. Was delicious with the French dinner at Le Crocodile. — 6 years ago

Mindy Woytasczyk

9.0

Mild, dry, delicious...doesn't finish dry. Has some pep for an aftertaste. Love it! — 8 years ago

Claude Pumilia

9.0

Very different - refreshing — 9 years ago

Guillaume Duchesne-Lessard

9.0

Belle finale en bouche. Fruité et rafraichissant — 10 years ago

Rachel Hawker

9.1

Awesone, full bodied — 10 years ago

Robert Piazza

9.0

Fruity, spicy, coats the tongue nicely. A beauty to pair with roasted meats and charcuterie. A definite repurchase from color de vino. — 10 years ago

with Maureen and Jeremiah

MICHAEL COOPER DipWSET

Owner TomeVinos wine shops, WSET Level 3, Blogger www.spanishwinesandmore.com, blog.tomevinos.com

9.1

black berries, also warm alcohol. The tannin is a little dry and chewy — 11 years ago

Kelly Bourassa

9.0

Lunch at Divino with Dusty and UW — 12 years ago

Kevin Walsh

Wine blogger doxologywine.com; Freelance Sommelier (Court of Master Sommeliers) Doxology Wine Consulting

9.5

Initially, this wine was off putting. There is oxidative notes and a sweatiness to it. Very complex wine with real balance. — 12 years ago

Paco Suro

8.9

Atypical Verdejo. Barrel aged. Full and round. It is a popular producer. Tough to rate as high QPR as it is about double the typical Verdejo. Though the better half just gave me the evil eye because I finished the last of it. Hence the happy plus! — 13 years ago