2021 Chateau Cantenac Brown - Grand Cru Classe Margaux

Decanter.com – 94 pts – GH: *Gorgeous fragrance and florality on the nose with ripe and perfumed black fruit and some peony touches. Smooth and supple, nicely weighted with lovely finesse and concentration to the fruit - blackcurrant, cherry and raspberry - with really juicy acidity. A lovely almost creamy aspect to the texture with just grippy and spiced tannins towards the finish. Nice aspect of oak throughout showing the ageing potential. I like this a lot, well formed, well delivered. Easy to enjoy with tons of personality.* - 12/2023

Falstaff Magazin – 93 pts – PM: *Dunkles Rubingranat, tiefer Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Ockerrandaufhellung. Reife Kirschfrucht, feines Waldbeerkonfit, Orangenzesten, ein Hauch von Gewürzen, einladendes Bukett. Mittlere Komplexität, feine Fruchtsüße, frischer Säurebogen, mineralisch-salzig im Abgang, bereits zugänglich, mit Reifepotenzial ausgestattet.* - 03/2024

The Wine Advocate – (92-94) pts – RP: *The 2021 Cantenac Brown is another fine effort from a Margaux estate that's been on something of a roll of late. Unwinding in the glass with notions of cassis, wildberries, loamy soil and cigarbox, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and seamless, with good concentration, lively acids and a nicely defined finish. José Sanfins and his team opted to wait to pick the estate's Cabernet Sauvignon between the fourth and 12th of October, and that appears to have paid off. The blend is 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot, and just over half the estate's production went into the grand vin. "We've never had so many people put in so many man-hours in the vineyard," observed José Sanfins, who has directed this Margaux château since 1989. Deleafing right after flowering, a green harvest of fruit that was likely to be tardy to ripen, and then taking the risk to wait to harvest the estate's Cabernet Sauvignon late were, in Sanfins's eyes, the key to the vintage; and the results in the glass are persuasive. The grand vin itself incorporates an unusually high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as fully 10% of carefully selected press wine, and it's very impressive. It's likely to number among the sleepers of the vintage, as has often been the case in recent years.*

Vinum Magazin – 17/20 pts: *Sehr ausbaugeprägtes Muster, besonders in der Nase; im Mund rund und geschmeidig, mit vanillig-fruchtigem Ausklang; gefällig im besten Sinn.*

WeinWisser – 17/20pts – GL, TW: *Schwarzes Johannisbeerbouquet, frisch gemahlener schwarzer Bergpfeffer, zarte Fliedernote und Waldhimbeergelee. Am satten Gaumen mit weicher Textur, stützender Rasse, dann packt das engmaschige Tanningerüst zu und lässt nicht mehr los, sehniger Körper. Im konzentrierten Finale verschlankt sich der Margaux, getrocknete Schlehenhaut, Wacholder und mürbe Adstringenz.* – 04/2022

JancisRobinson.com – 16+/20pts – JR: *73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot. Cask sample. Deep, glowing crimson. Intense nose of blackberries. Round – as though very carefully worked. Not desperately long and with quite marked acidity but the phenolics were certainly ripe enough. Clean and fresh. Just slightly lacks the flesh of the Giscours 2021 tasted alongside.* - 04/2022

Vinous.com – 94 pts – AG: *The 2021 Cantenac Brown is superb. Rich and flashy, with tons of persistence, the 2021 is a wine of notable depth. Black cherry, plum, spice, new leather and mocha are all amplified. Readers will find a Cantenac Brown endowed with notable textural richness. Estate Manager Jose Sanfins opted to bleed the musts, and that resulted in an unusually opulent wine for the year—very much in line with the house style. The 2021 is drop-dead gorgeous.* - 12/2023

Vinous.com – 92 pts – NM: *The 2021 Cantenac Brown has commendable fruit intensity on the nose considering the growing season: blackberry and wild strawberry fruit, crushed stone, touches of cedar and tobacco. The palate is well-balanced with a crisp bead of acidity, sapid in the mouth and harmonious, with a conspicuous marine influence toward the finish that holds your interest. This is a very well-crafted Margaux that should give 20 years of drinking pleasure.* - 11/2023

Thewinecellarinsider.com – 94 pts – JL: *Flowers, espresso, cigar box, black and red currants and cherry scents pop in the nose. On the palate, the wine is fresh creamy and loaded with with sweet, ripe, spicy, savory red fruits, silky tannins and a supple finish. This is very successful for the vintage. The wine is a blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot. Drink from 2025-2044.* - 03/2024