Château Brane Cantenac, 2ème Cru Classé, Margaux, 2022
This is another second growth that showed better at the UGC than at the Chateau. There was nothing wrong with either sample, but the Brane tasted at Siran had more depth and concentration - it was the clear star of the show. Marie Hélène Dussech explained that they are re-grafting more Cabernet Sauvignon onto Merlot rootstocks. The blend of the 2017 is 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. While it doesn't quite live up the standards set in 2015 and 2016, this is nonetheless a mighty impressive Brane Cantenac brimming with vitality. Perfumed notes of wild flowers, meaty Cabernet fruit, hints of coal, griotte and Chambord. The palate has good intensity with waves of pure hedgerow fruit, toast and sweet spice. The team integrated 3.4% press wine at an early stage which gives more mid palate weight. It feels cohesive, balanced and unforced - a really elegant, vibrant Margaux that finishes with engaging salty briar fruit. Excellent.
critic reviews
The 2022 Brane-Cantenac marked a year when ownership passed to Henri Lurton's four children, although he remains as general manager. More importantly (perhaps), the 2022 is a benchmark for the Margaux estate, its future North Star. This has a stupendous nose with intense Cabernet Sauvignon inflections, its intensity and delineation superior to the 2019 and 2020. An underlying floral scent emerges with time. The palate is medium-bodied with silky and fine tannins that frame the seductive black fruit laced with crushed peppercorns, and a touch of cedar on the crystalline finish. I raved about this 2022 from barrel and in bottle. I see no reason to change my "raving." Tasted at the Brane-Cantenac vertical at the château in September 2025.
Juicy and extremely impressive fruit quality, this harnesses the best of 2022 and is one of the wines of the vintage. You feel the texture and the power of the fruit, streaks of cocoa, liquorice, and rose petals, totally love it. The biggest alcohol of the series, and certainly you get a touch of crème de cassis and ripe fresh fig, carefully delivered with great texture to the tannins. This was the year that Henri Lurton passed the estate over to his four children while remaining as general manager, and also planted Malbec for the first time in the vineyard. Harvest September 7 to October 10, 315hl/h yield, 100% new oak barrels for ageing. Eric Boissenot consultant, Henri Lurton owner, Christophe Capdeville technical director. I have given this wine 98 points consistently every time I have tasted it, and truly it is excellent.
The 2022 from Henri Lurton is a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 1% each Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Carmenère. I just adore the nose here, dark yet perfumed and fresh, with smoked blackberry fruit laced with sandalwood, incense, white peach and a touch of mint, as well as a gentle touch of peppery energy. The palate is no less beautiful than the nose suggests, with great harmony and polish, a very correct stance, the dark fruit underpinned by a spindle of dark and deliciously well-knit tannins. This is wonderfully coherent, all spiced and peppery in the finish, before a length which comes infused with peppery tannins. A brilliantly fashioned Margaux with a rich tannic structure that will carry this forward for decades. A great example of Brane-Cantenac and the appellation as a whole. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14%.
Easily one of the best wines of the appellation. Red rose petal fragrance, damp earth, rosemary, baking spice, sandalwood, incense, graphite and slate. Exceptional balance, deep chocolate and mint character, with lush damson and cassis fruits. Crushed violet flowers and salted cracker salinity, extremely impressive. Owner Henri Lurton has experience of making wine overseas, in Baja California, which may have given insights into viticultural techniques n the heat, but the real key here is the old vine Cabernet Sauvignon planted in the 1950s and 1960s by his late father Lucien Lurton. 100% new oak, from 8 coopers, and the meticulous approach to oak ageing care of technical director Christophe Capdeville is also important. 42% of production in the 1st wine. All the young vines, even when co-planted in the same rows were picked separately also this year.