2009 Château Branaire-Ducru, St Julien, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2009 Branaire Ducru has a somewhat conservative bouquet with cedar and graphite-scented black fruit, with touches of brown spice emerging with time. It never quite clicks into fifth gear. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly drier tannin than its peers, yet well-balanced and fresh, hints of sage and bay leaf infusing the black fruit with a delightful, vivacious, quintessential Saint-Julien finish. Excellent.
Drink 2021 - 2045
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (March 2019)
Inky purple. Grapey, floral nose offers the full Branaire spectrum of sexy ripe black cherry, Oriental spice, dark chocolate and coconut aromas. Enters very bright, with rich, dense flavours of red cherry and pomegranate juice, then finishes impressively long and pure, with a lovely hint of fresh blackberry. The wine's lively acids give it great precision and extend its flavours on the aromatic aftertaste.
The wine's youthfully aggressive tannins will greatly repay cellaring, and I expect this wine to age effortlessly for the next few decades. I recently had the amazing 1928 Branaire, and though I don't think this '09 will ever reach the heights of that wine, it may be pretty close.
Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com (May 2010)
The 2009 Branaire-Ducru has a medium to deep garnet colour and reveals compelling notions of warm cassis, liquorice, baked plums and hoisin with hints of sautéed herbs and pencil lead. Youthful and medium to full-bodied, it has a generous core of black fruits with a firm and grainy structure and bags of freshness, finishing long with great purity.
Drink 2020 - 2040
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate (March 2019)
Smudgy crimson. High toned. Lots of juice and attack with some freshness too. Just the job for claret lovers really.
Drink 2017 - 2030
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2019)
Haut couture becomes a wine! This dense purple wine has the tell-tale notes of flowers and pencil shavings, and its broad aromatics are intense and totally captivating. Powerful, rich, and full, but less tannic than the 2005 and more opulent, this is a dazzling Branaire to drink between 2017-2035.
Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (December 2011)
A cedar perfume on the nose, with a good length of flavour and concentration on the palate. This is slightly more chunky than elegant, which means it has huge potential.
Jane Anson, Sebastian Payne MW, Steven Spurrier, Decanter.com (December 2016)
The 2009 Branaire-Ducru is another killer wine from this vintage that’s drinking spectacularly well at age 10. Based on 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it’s still ruby/purple color is followed by a huge nose of blackcurrants, tobacco leaf, cedar box, and even a hint of forest floor. Full-bodied, broad, expansive, and layered on the palate, it builds nicely with time in the glass, has sweet tannins, no hard edges, and a blockbuster finish. This incredible wine can be enjoyed any time over the coming 2-3 decades or more. Bravo!
Drink 2019 - 2044
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (June 2019)
Bright, deep ruby. Superripe, brooding aromas of black cherry, bitter chocolate and liquorice. Sweet, concentrated and fine-grained, with terrific depth to the plush cassis and coffee liqueur flavours. Serious dusty, fine tannins will not stand in the way of early approachability but this wine has the structure for a 20+-year life in bottle.
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com (July 2012)
About this WINE
Château Branaire-Ducru
Classified as a fourth growth in 1855, Ch. Branaire-Ducru makes pure and classic St Julien. The estate has recently passed from father to son: the widely respected Patrick Maroteaux – who had served at various times as president of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux and the St Julien appellation – sadly passed away in 2017. His son François-Xavier has picked up the baton and continues his father’s legacy. The Maroteaux family bought the property in 1988 and have invested considerably in the vineyard and winery since. Superstar consultant Eric Boissenot advises here, as he does with many of the Left Bank’s top estates, including the Médoc’s four first growths.
St Julien
St Julien is the smallest of the "Big Four" Médoc communes. Although, without any First Growths, St Julien is recognised to be the most consistent of the main communes, with several châteaux turning out impressive wines year after year.
St Julien itself is much more of a village than Pauillac and almost all of the notable properties lie to its south. Its most northerly château is Ch. Léoville Las Cases (whose vineyards actually adjoin those of Latour in Pauillac) but, further south, suitable vineyard land gives way to arable farming and livestock until the Margaux appellation is reached.
The soil is gravelly and finer than that of Pauillac, and without the iron content which gives Pauillac its stature. The homogeneous soils in the vineyards (which extend over a relatively small area of just over 700 hectares) give the commune a unified character.
The wines can be assessed as much by texture as flavour, and there is a sleek, wholesome character to the best. Elegance, harmony and perfect balance and weight, with hints of cassis and cedar, are what epitomise classic St Julien wines. At their very best they combine Margaux’s elegance and refinement with Pauillac’s power and substance.
Ch. Léoville Las Cases produces arguably the most sought-after St Julien, and in any reassessment of the 1855 Classification it would almost certainly warrant being elevated to First Growth status.
Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Léoville Las Cases, Ch.Léoville Barton, Ch Léoville Poyferré, Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou, Ch Langoa Barton, Ch Gruaud Larose, Ch. Branaire-Ducru, Ch. Beychevelle
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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Description
A gorgeous nose of violets and raspberries announces the 2009 Branaire-Ducru. It is fresh and focused yet powerful and concentrated at the same time with fine, ripe, silky tannins making the wine extremely approachable even at this early stage. The sublime quality of the fruit, as ever, is key here, and has a resulted in an intense yet wonderfully elegant wine.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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