2010 Château Cantenac Brown, Margaux, Bordeaux

2010 Château Cantenac Brown, Margaux, Bordeaux

Product: 20108006794
Prices start from £500.00 per case Buying options
2010 Château Cantenac Brown, Margaux, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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12 x 75cl bottle
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Description

The 2010 Cantenac Brown performed extremely well in the Southwold blind tasting. Here, the nose demands coaxing from the glass before revealing beautifully defined blackberry, boysenberry, earth and mint aromas, perhaps a little more floral than a couple of years ago. Medium-bodied on the palate, this 2010 is focused and delivers plenty of substance; it's quite linear at the moment, yet sophisticated, and is as fresh as a daisy on the finish. Superb. Tasted at the Cantenac Brown vertical at the château.

Drink 2023 - 2050

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (October 2022)

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Critics reviews

Neal Martin, Vinous94/100

The 2010 Cantenac Brown performed extremely well in the Southwold blind tasting. Here, the nose demands coaxing from the glass before revealing beautifully defined blackberry, boysenberry, earth and mint aromas, perhaps a little more floral than a couple of years ago. Medium-bodied on the palate, this 2010 is focused and delivers plenty of substance; it's quite linear at the moment, yet sophisticated, and is as fresh as a daisy on the finish. Superb. Tasted at the Cantenac Brown vertical at the château.

Drink 2023 - 2050

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (October 2022)

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Ian D'Agata, Vinous92+/100

66% Cabernet Sauvignon and 34% Merlot.

Inky-purple. Initially, the reserved nose opens with air to reveal pure, vibrant scents of crushed black cherry, violet and minerals. Juicy and tight in the mouth, with penetrating flavours of black cherry, cassis, smoke and coffee, it shows very good balance. It is a dense but weightless wine with wonderful energy and terrific lift. Finishes intensely minerally and long, with broad, mounting tannins that dust the palate. Cantenac Brown has been on a roll of late.

Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com (May 2011)

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Wine Advocate95/100

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux 2010 tasting. Wow - one of those wines that seemed to excel under blind conditions; this is a Margaux that should be taken seriously. The 2010 demonstrates a lot of extraction on the nose with liquorice-infused black fruit, iodine and blueberry jam. 

This is on the brink of being over-ripe - but it knows the line not to cross. The palate is medium-bodied with a succulent entry, generous and honeyed texture; the acidity is nicely judged and builds towards a multi-layered, sophisticated, and engaging finish. Long-term. 

Neil Martin, Wine Advocate (March 2014)

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Jancis Robinson MW16/20

Tasted blind. Deep garnet with brick rim. Exotic ripe fruits, spice and sweet leather. But it's pretty tough on the palate. Finding a way through the tannins is hard, but give it time. 

Drink 2024 - 2030

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (April 2020)


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James Suckling94/100

A wine with firm tannins that are polished and reserved, yet there's an underlying richness of fruit. Plums, blueberries and citrus character. Some tar, too. Juicy and delicious to taste. 

Drink from 2016 onwards

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (February 2013)

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Robert Parker94+/100

The greatest Cantenac Brown I have ever tasted, the 2010 is one for the ages. Dense purple, with an extraordinary nose of sweet forest floor, blackberry jam, pen ink and graphite, this wine soars from the glass, giving it an aromatic dimension and intensity I have never seen from this estate. 

The tannins are present, as they are in most Cantenac Browns, but the wine’s sweetness, broad, skyscraper-like mouthfeel, dense, purple colour and spectacular length (close to a minute) make this a giant classic and a fabulous sleeper of the vintage that remains under-priced, considering how great its potential may be. This is a wine for those with cold cellars and youthful DNA. It will need at least a decade of cellaring and should last 20-40 years. A classic!

Drink 2023 - 2063

Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (February 2013)

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Decanter91/100

It displays a fine Cabernet fragrance on the nose with elegant fruit on the palate, full of black fruit flavours. The tannins are well-integrated but are a little closed now.

Jane Anson, Sebastian Payne MW, Steven Spurrier, Decanter.com

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Stephen Tanzer90+/100

Bright ruby-red. Sharply delineated if youthfully strict aromas of bitter cherry and violet. Then densely packed and juicy, with very firm underlying structure to the intense, rather cool flavours of cassis, minerals, liquorice and herbs. With its firm-edged tannins and serious spine, this wine conveys an impression of medicinal austerity today, but its inner-mouth perfume and length suggest that it will age beautifully.

Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com (July 2013)

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About this WINE

Chateau Cantenac Brown

Chateau Cantenac Brown

Cantenac-Brown, a 3ème Cru Classé estate, is located in the Haut-Medoc wine appellation on the western extremes of the Margaux appellation.

As with so many Bordeaux estates, the tale of the last 120 years focuses on early years of problems, caused by both vineyard diseases and economic depradations, followed by recent revival once the property has been bought by someone with the means to invest properly in its future.

The revitalisation of Cantenac-Brown only really looked a realistic possibility with its acquisition in by AXA Millésimes in 1989. The AXA team, led at that time by the since semi-retired Jean-Michel Cazes, with the help of Daniel Llose and under the direction of Christian Seely, began to turn the estate around. The team had a history of success in Bordeaux, not least at Lynch-Bages but at other estates such as Pichon-Baron, Suduiraut and Quinta do Noval. 

Cantenac Brown has 42 hectares of vineyards - 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc.

Cantenac Brown is typically Margaux in character - fragrant and perfumed on the nose and medium bodied and harmonious on the palate, with soft cassis-scented fruits and a lingering finish.

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Margaux

Margaux

If Pauillac can be seen as the bastion of ‘traditional’ Red Bordeaux, then Margaux represents its other facet in producing wines that are among Bordeaux’s most sensual and alluring. It is the largest commune in the Médoc, encompassing the communes of Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac and Labaude, in addition to Margaux itself. Located in the centre of the Haut-Médoc, Margaux is the closest of the important communes to the city of Bordeaux.

The soils in Margaux are the lightest and most gravelly of the Médoc, with some also containing a high percentage of sand. Vineyards located in Cantenac and Margaux make up the core of the appelation with the best vineyard sites being located on well-drained slopes, whose lighter soils give Margaux its deft touch and silky perfumes. Further away from the water, there is a greater clay content and the wines are less dramatically perfumed.

Margaux is the most diffuse of all the Médoc appelations with a reputation for scaling the heights with irreproachable wines such as Ch. Margaux and Ch. Palmer, but also plumbing the depths, with too many other châteaux not fulfilling their potential. There has been an upward shift in recent years, but the appellation cannot yet boast the reliability of St Julien. However, the finest Margaux are exquisitely perfumed and models of refinement and subtlety which have few parallels in Bordeaux.

Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Margaux, Ch. Palmer, Ch. Brane-Cantenac, Ch. Rauzan-Ségla , Ch. Dufort-Vivens, Ch. Ferrière, Ch. du Tertre, Ch. Giscours, Ch. d'Angludet.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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