Chateau Brane-Cantenac

The history of Chateau Brane-Cantenac could be traced back to the early 18^th century, when it was under the ownership of the Gorce family, with the estate known as Chateau Gorce. The family probably acquired the estate around 1735, and had been active in viticulture. Under Marie-Francoise Gorce the estate expanded to 40 hectares, with the increasing price signifying the quality of the wine, which was on par with what Mouton was selling at the time.

In 1833 the estate was acquired by Baron Hector de Brane, who sold Brane-Mouton to finance the sale, renaming it Brane-Cantenac in 1838. Hector was also responsible for identifying Cabernet Sauvignon as Medoc’s number one grape, earning him a nickname Napoleon des Vignes. It was ranked a second growth in the 1855 classification

The estate was later bequeathed to Jacques-Maxime, who subsequently sold to Gustave Roy, who owned d’Issan. During the vineyard disasters, phylloxera and oidium, war and economic depression, the quality went into decline. The estate was sold in 1919 to the Societe des Grands Crus de France, a consortium that also owned Margaux, d’Issan and Durfort-Vivens. The dissolution of this company in 1925 saw the estate sold to the current owners, the Lurton family.

Francois Lurton later passed the estate to his son Lucien, who made significant expansion and improvement. In 1992 he passed to his son Henri, who had spent many years gaining experience far beyond Bordeaux’s border, which was something special at the time. Henri also got a handful of wine qualifications. Through his dedication, today the quality had come back to the level expected for a deuxieme cru standing, and still gradually improving.

The vineyards amount to 75 hectares, with three main terroirs: the large sweep of gravel in front of the chateau at the top of Plateau de Brane, which is a thick layer of surface gravel up to 12 metres deep, with wines of high quality tannin with silky-velvety presence. The second section is centred around and behind the chateau, with a gravel soil but higher proportion of sand and no clay, and a lower water level, with stronger tannin. The third section is on the other side of Route d’Arsac, La Verdotte, with gravelly sand soil and adopting organic viticulture since 2010.

The vines are planted at 8000 vines per hectare, at an average age of 35 years. Cabernet Sauvignon covers 55% of the vineyard, with 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and 0.5% Carmenere. The fruit is picked by hand with typical yield of 45 hl/ha, transported using the Air Tec system which cushions the fruit from damage. At the reception area the fruit sees double sorting, one in the vineyard and the other in the cellar. The fruit is mechanically destemmed and sorted using optical technology.

In 1997 new fermentation options were introduced with new oak vats, adding to the choice of stainless steel and concrete vats. Now half of the production undergoes malolactic in barrel. In 1999 the buildings also saw extensive renovating, with a new chai using greener technology and environmentally sensitive materials.

The freshly harvested fruit sees a cold soak, with concentration methods used in wet vintages to reduce water contents of the must by vacuum extraction. Fermentation is under temperature control between 7-10 days, with pumping over and pigeage, and even delestage. Maceration is carried out between 20-30 days before pressing, with the wine fed into barrels of 60-70% new oak, for malolactic fermentation.

The wine is left on lees for several months, with topping up. Finally the wine is tasted before blending, and racking is also done. The wine is aged in oak for 12 months for Baron de Brane, the second wine, and 18 months for the grand vin before fining by egg-white and bottling. About 12500 cases each of first and second wine is produced each year.

I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, this wine is of medium ruby color, with garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, the nose shows medium intensity aromas of black fruit such as blackberry and blackcurrant, oak notes of cedar and toast, maturity notes of savory, sweet spice of cloves, floral notes of violet. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, medium tannin of soft and silky texture, the wine has medium alcohol and is of medium body with medium intensity flavors of black fruit such as blackberry and cassis, oak notes of toast and cedar, floral notes of violet, maturity notes of savory. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Good quality Margaux GCC with a reasonably intense nose showing good complexity, the wine has exhibited signs of development but still got ample room to further evolve. On the palate it is balanced and elegant, with fair concentration and complexity, as well as a good finish. Ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 3-5 years.