Château Brane-Cantenac Margaux 2020
The 2020 Château Brane-Cantenac is a masterful expression of Margaux’s elegance and finesse, crafted in a vintage marked by warmth and intensity. The estate’s deep gravel soils provided exceptional drainage, allowing the Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen fully while retaining freshness and precision. Aromas of blackberry, plum, and violet leap from the glass, leading to a layered palate of ripe dark fruit, cedar, and crushed stone, framed by refined tannins and a long, mineral-driven finish. The estate’s focus on biodiversity and low-intervention winemaking amplifies the purity of fruit, delivering a wine that marries power with balance and promises decades of graceful aging.
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Varietal Composition | 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Carmenere |
| Appellation | Margaux |
| Designation | Grand Cru Classé |
| Alcohol | 13.50% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
98 Points James Suckling: Blackberries, plums, currants, tobacco and violets on the nose. Bitter chocolate and mocha, too. It’s refined and focused, with a medium to full body and firm, tightly-knit tannins. Very long, laser-focused and polished. Very classy. Best of the trilogy. Try after 2027.
97 Points Decanter: Heady and expressive on the nose, seductive tones of ripe fruit and perfumed flowers. Gorgeous intensity on the palate, rich, round and ripe - gently chewy - but cool and refreshing too. This has a dynamic undercurrent with tannins that are fine but firm giving a slightly narrow frame. It’s a bit more serious than some, brooding, but clearly well made with definition. There’s a confidence here, vibrant and detailed fruit with an excellent lingering impression of the terroir in the slightly salty, chalky, graphite touch. Layered and well built with supreme classicism. A top buy. I'd like to own this one!
97 Points Jeb Dunnuck: This estate has been on a roll, and their 2020 Château Brane-Cantenac is another brilliant wine that readers will love. Largely in the mold of the 2019, it has a deep purple hue as well as an incredible bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherries, freshly sharpened pencils, tobacco, and flowers. This medium to full-bodied, richly textured, concentrated, yet remarkably elegant 2020 has the vintage's fresher, focused, elegant profile but still brings plenty of flesh and opulence. Beautifully done, it’s going to evolve for a solid 30 years in cold cellars and offer incredible pleasure all its life.
