Andy Stabile

9.6

Damn good bottle of wine..

Edit… came back as I couldn’t stop thinking about this bottle all night.

California wines were my ‘gateway drug’. I moved away from these wines as I learned about and tried the many many varietals around the world. Ultimately, I fell in love with the quality and, frankly, accessibility of Italian wines. Over the last 5 or 10 years i’ve tried many Italians, travelled to and gotten to know the regions reasonably well. Italy vino is my thing.

But French wine… it eludes me. I know there are great wines — maybe the best. But the country is so large, the regions and varieties so diverse, the price, sometimes too discouraging, that I simply haven’t learned enough about the wines to know my way around the offerings or how to find the wines I love.

But… I know they are there. I’ve had my share. And just how “every now and then a squirrel finds a nut”, so to do I, from time to time find my way to a great French bottle to remind me I’ve leveled up.

This bottle, for me, was one of those reminders. I actually opened it by accident. While bummed it had no age, I was so happy to drink it. I’ll probably buy a few more to cellar… and, yeah, will probably now spend a little more time and money brushing up on my French…

— 3 months ago

Hiroshi Tominaga

9.0

Balanced wine. Bought at Enoteca for ¥7,800. — 8 months ago

DAL 9000

9.1

Mild bouquet of dusty dark fruit. Quick mild sour cherries upfront with a dusty fruit mild tobacco finish. Definitely old world style. — 9 months ago

DC

9.0

Juice bomb. — 4 years ago

Lindsey King

9.0

Chard that tastes like cloudy Aligote — 5 years ago

Fredybeans

8.9

Jaune claire
Nez floral et salin
Bouche fraîche ample peu de gras assez désaltérant et élancé
Finale saline et fraîche — 7 years ago

Murphy Perng

8.9

Tar & roses — 8 years ago

Pierre Jampy

8.9

Perfect with cheese — 8 years ago

Mac Hofeditz

9.5

Amazing 2005 bordeaux — 9 years ago

Paul Stagg

8.9

Tasty. And why not? It's New Years Eve. very Good. — 9 years ago

Michael Morris

Wine Director The Park Café

9.5

Great stuff. Definitely needs air. Like chili, it's even better on day 2 — 10 years ago

Camilo Viafara

9.6

Fan Fuckingtastic — 2 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium ruby , thin slightly pink ruby rim . Quite dark fruit with cassis , blackberry , grafite . On the palate quite ripe and juicy , but with good balance , slightly gritty but ripe tannins , good cassis tinged , grafite finish . Overall this shows well , with good density and juiciness , sweet but importantly with a very balanced , refreshing personality. Enjoyable now , fruit forward , but no doubt can age well over the next 10 years. Enjoyable and moreish . — 4 months ago

Stefan Dolhain

8.9

2014 vintage. — 9 months ago

Katie Journeay

9.0

Pearland Costco — 3 years ago

Mario Vaillancourt

9.0

Spices and nice dark and red fruit on the nose and palate, nice balance, medium bodied plus with a soft texture of tannins, good. 89-90

Notes constantes, un beau fruit, des épices, bien équilibré, assez puissant mais sans excès, des tannins approchables et de belle texture. 89-90 — 4 years ago

Philippe Dupuis

8.9

Nose all buttery and exotic, also showing a slight evolution. Mouth follows in texture and volume with medium + lenght. Julien Pilon’s wines are always show stoppers. — 7 years ago

with Phil

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

On the nose, bright, ripe, ruby; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, blue fruit mix, strawberries, creamy raspberries, plums, cranberries, black tea, loamy soils, dry clay, dry stones, limestone minerals, saddlewood, crush dry rocks, dark moist soils, dark chocolate, vanilla, field of violets, lavender and fresh red florals.
The palate is medium-full yet a little lean. The fruits are elegant, ruby, ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, blue fruit mix, strawberries, creamy raspberries, plums, cranberries, black tea, loamy soils, dry clay, dry stones, limestone minerals, used leather, cedar, crush dry rocks, dark moist soils, dark chocolate, vanilla, field of violets, lavender and fresh red florals. The acidity is very good. The length, balance and length are nice. The structure a little lean. It a well polished rich fruit finish, but is a little short.

Photos of; the Chateau, Owner Patrick Maroteaux (may he RIP), Estate grapes and their barrel room.

Producer notes & history...Branaire Ducru has a long history has a long history that dates back to 1680. In those days, Branaire Ducru was a part of a larger Beychevelle. When the owner of Beychevelle passed away, he left behind a huge Bordeaux vineyard that was seriously in debt. To pay off the debt, the vineyard was broken up and sold. Several new estates were created in Saint Julien, which include Chateau Branaire Ducru. Jean-Baptiste Braneyre created the estate in 1680. As was was tradition in Bordeaux, the owner gave the estate his name, which is where the first part of the properties name came was given. Braneyre was later altered to Branaire. Braneyre bought the land we know as Branaire Ducru because of the terroir. He understood that Cabernet Sauvignon grew best on the deep gravel soils found in the Medoc. With that, we have the birth of Branaire Ducru. Or, at least the Branaire part. The middle name was gained through marriage. Marie Braneyre married Pierre de Luc which as you can guess, gave us the Branaire Duluc (the name of their 2nd wine). Almost 100 years later, the first winery at the property was constructed in 1824. It took almost 200 years for the Ducru portion of the wines name to make its way to the label. In 1875, with no direct descendants, Gustave Ducru, a more distant relative took over the property and added his name to the label making it, Chateau Branaire Ducru.

Patrick Maroteaux bought Branaire Ducru in 1988 from the Tapie family who had owned It since 1919. Prior to his ownership of Branaire Ducru, Patrick Maroteaux had no prior experience in the wine business. His background was in banking and then a president of the massive sugar company, Eurosucre. Patrick Maroteaux also served as the President of the UGCB, Union of Grand Crus Bordeaux, and as the President of the Saint Julien appellation.
Since his purchase, Patrick Maroteaux has focused much of his efforts on performing extensive work in the vineyards and in the cellars. He also began reducing the yields. Additionally, he increased the size of their vineyards by 10 hectares. Patrick was also modernized their winemaking techniques.
In fact, Patrick Maroteaux was one of the first producers in the Left Bank to being filling his tanks entirely by gravity. He did this beginning with the 91 vintage. This was done with the help of Philippe Dhalluin.

Philippe Dhalluin left Branaire Ducru in 2004 and took the same position as the director for wine making at Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Philippe Dhalluin was replaced by Jean Dominique Videau.

Chateau Branaire Ducru is a family business. The son of Patrick Maroteaux, François Xavier Maroteaux has carried the family business and joined the estate. Sadly, on November 19, 2017, Patrick Maroteaux passed away at the age of 67. His son, François Xavier Maroteaux took over the full time responsibilities of managing the property.

All the new technical improvements at Branaire Ducru quickly paid off for Patrick Maroteaux. Beginning with the 2000 vintage, Branaire Ducru became one of the top Saint Julien wines. It’s also one of the better values for high quality Bordeaux.

The 60 hectare vineyard of Branaire Ducru is planted to 65% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The vineyard is very close to the size it was during the time of the 1855 Classification.

The terroir is deep gravel with clay soils. The best terroir is located near the chateau, closest to the Gironde river. They also have blocks further inland, with a small section of vines placed close to Chateau Lagrange and Chateau Talbot. The vineyard can be divided into 15 different blocks with 70 different parcels of vines. On average, the vines are close to 35 years of age. However, the estate has older vines as well. The oldest vines date back close to 90 years of age. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,700 to 10,000 vines per hectare. The higher levels of vine density are for the newer plantings. The goal of the property is to continue increasing the vine density in all of their better terroirs.

Branaire Ducru, fermentation takes place in 28 temperature controlled, stainless steel tanks. The 28 vats vary in size. The vats range in size from as small as 30 hectoliters and up to 210 hectoliters. Each vat is sized for the needs of each specific vineyard parcel. Each vat is filled using the gravity based system.
Branaire Ducru is aged in 60 to 65% new, French oak barrels for between 16-20 months. The amount of new oak varies depending on the quality, character and style of each vintage. On average, the annual production is about 25,000 cases depending on the vintage. — 7 years ago

Drew Miller

9.4

Oakland's hot so give me some if that light cool Pinot please...def has the mineral taste to it. Perfect for hot weather red — 11 years ago

Stan Nguyen

9.3

Slight fizz from Malo. Light and juicy. Really great — 4 months ago

ewwaunel

9.1

Vin doux et fruité, très agréable! — 5 months ago

John Willison

9.1

Charleston Food and Wine Classic…Rhône tasting. — 8 months ago

Francisco Perez

9.0

Cotes Du Rhône Village. What a great an unassuming red. Flavorful, rich red great aroma smooth and complements my spicy baked red snapper. Life is good! — 2 years ago

Neil Valenzuela

9.0

Deep ruby color. Aromas of dark cherry, leather and pepper. Smooth, gorgeous Bordeaux. — 4 years ago

Mo Salem

9.3

This wine has big potential. Needs a lot of rest. — 7 years ago

with Ron

James Bellinger

9.0

Do you like deep house? Not too deep. — 8 years ago

Sebastian Goodwin

8.9

Nice, but young Saint Julien — 9 years ago

Justan Fondbertasse

9.0

Tasting way less reductive since the last time I tasted it, apparently still needed time to find itself — 9 years ago

Nick DiSanto

10

4/6/16 Red on Prospect. — 9 years ago

Päivi S

9.0

Hieman multaisa tuoksu saa sormet syyhyämään ja malttamattomina odottamaan kevään kukkapenkkien kunnostamista ja sitä hetkeä kun saa iskettyä sormet kekkilän mustamultaan. Maussa mehevää herukkaisuutta eikä juurikaan tanniinisutta&tammea (=hyvä asia). Pidän tätä hyvänä pöytäpunkkuna, helppo ja moneen ruokaan sopiva, ei turhan sofistikoitunut, ei liikaa vivahteita. Yksi parhaimpia, joita olen hetkeen maistanut. — 10 years ago