Chateau Brane-Cantenac 2021

From left, Proprietor Henri Lurton, Wine Consultant Eric Boissenot (standing), and General Manager Christophe Capdeville

The world media and wine merchants will descend on Bordeaux next month April to taste the futures or en primeurs Bordeaux 2021 vintage.

(Myself will only do so in May as I have to be in London in April as Regional Chair of Asia for Decanter World Wine Awards which I have missed two consecutive years because of Covid).

For most Bordeaux chateaux which offer their wine for sampling, the blending takes place in January following the vintage.

In the case of Second Growth Chateau Brane-Cantenac of Margaux, a staggering 91 batches of wine and 66 batches of pressed wine constitute the final blend that is the 2021 vintage.

Proprietor Henri Lurton offers this insight.

‘The blend is a decisive act in the winemaking process. It allows to create – from numerous batches selected according to their grape-variety, their origin, the age of the vines and of course their quality – every single wine of our range.’

A team of four at Brane-Cantenac was joined by Wine Consultant Eric Boissenot (consultant to around 200 properties including Lafite, Margaux, Latour, Mouton, Pichon Baron, Pichon Comtesse, Leoville Las Cases, Leoville Barton and Ducru Beaucaillou).

Together they explore the various possibilities offered. In arriving at the final blend from all those 157 different components, the tasting panel was guided by this over-riding criterion: “the best ever quality to express the typicity of the vintage at its best”.

The following wines are produced at the Margaux Second Growth:

Brane-Cantenac Blanc
Margaux de Brane
Baron de Brane
Chateau Brane-Cantenac

The final blend that is Chateau Brane-Cantenac 2021 is comprised of 157 different wine components