CHATEAU BRANE CANTENAC

Established in the eighteenth century by the Gorce family, the estate’s current name comes from the subsequent owner, Baron Hector de Brane, aka the ‘Napoléon of the Vines’ (due in part, no doubt, to boldly naming the estate after himself), a man of formidable political connections who saw it ranked as one of the fifteen Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growths) in the 1855 Classification.

He sold what is now Château Mouton-Rothschild to finance the purchase, and his devotion to the vineyard saw it become, for a while, the finest in Cantenac. Now owned by one of the most famous winemaking families in Bordeaux, the Lurtons, Brane-Cantenac is steadily rebounding from a more recent history of mediocrity, these days producing soft, fruity expressions that lend themselves to earlier drinking more readily than some.

The vineyard is planted in 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 4.5% Cabernet Franc, plus it is one of very few estates in Bordeaux to still include a tiny percentage of the historically significant varietal, Carménère.