Juste après la tournée 2009 de l'Union des Grands Crus aux Etats-Unis, le très luxueux magasin de vins et spiritueux situé sur la non moins fameuse Park Avenue, a organisé une dégustation de Château Brane-Cantenac 2004 et 2005. Deux millésimes fort appréciés des amateurs!

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Immediately after the Union des Grands Crus made its 2009 rounds of the United States, the lavish wine and spirits store located on the no-less-famous Park Avenue organized a tasting of Château Brane-Cantenac 2004 and 2005, two extremely popular vintages. Making a special visit from Dallas after the Union’s tour, Corinne Conroy was received by Robin O'Connor and all of Sherry Lehmann's sales team on Saturday January 31.

All morning long, the team of salespeople attended a presentation of the property with a video and a refreshing tasting of several Brane-Cantenac vintages and Baron de Brane.

After lunch, a tasting open to Sherry Lehmann’s customers drew in many inquisitive people as well as fans of Bordeaux wines looking for a nice bottle for their pre-Superbowl parties or for a weekend dinner among friends. The majority of the day’s buyers already had Brane-Cantenac in their cellars, as it turns out… We would like to extend a big thank you to all the members of Sherry Lehmann and particularly to Robin O'Connor, in charge of public relations and education, and Chris Adams, the director, for having showcased Brane during this event.

Alors que les nouvelles sont très mauvaises pour la filière vin française, et que les médias se focalisent sur une étude plus ou moins sérieuse sur le vin et le cancer, le président Jacques Chirac continue à donner le bon exemple aux Français! Un verre de vin n'a jamais tué personne, bien au contraire!

At a time when the French wine industry is suffering and the media are focusing on a more-or-less serious study on wine and cancer, President Jacques Chirac continues to set a good example for his fellow citizens! A glass of wine never killed anyone – quite the contrary!

Mercredi 18 février, Monsieur Pierre Casamayor était accueilli pour une belle verticale de 1995 à 2008 et un déjeuner...un voyage de 50 ans dans la vie de Brane!

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On Wednesday February 18, Mister Pierre Casamayor was received for an exceptional vertical tasting of 1995 to 2008 wines and a luncheon: a 50-year journey through the life of Brane! It was with evident pleasure that Henri Lurton and the entire team welcomed Pierre Casamayor, a journalist with ‘Revue du Vin de France’ (among others), the author of several books about vineyards, wine and gastronomy, and a former professor at the College of Toulouse.

It had been a long time since this personality last visited the property. He conducted a long and enjoyable tour of the vineyards and then the vat-room in the company of Henri Lurton and Christophe Capdeville, who share his love for terroir. After an exhaustive visit of the winery, 14 neatly aligned flasks awaited him for a full-fledged tasting session… ‘Molière quality,’ declared Mr. Casamayor when finishing on the 1995, alluding to Brane’s renowned classicism…

The morning ended with a luncheon organized by chef Thibaut Servas who, knowing the reputation of our guest, had prepared each dish to reflect the vintage it would be enjoyed with. The 1989 was accompanied by an exquisite sautéed foie gras. The sublime 1986 (we’re so modest!), by virtue of its youth, exploded in your mouth with the calf sweetbreads with morel mushrooms. As for the filet of beef seasoned with ‘4 ages of pepper,’ served with parsnips and venere rice, they melted in your mouth with the 1983, which was racy, perfectly balanced and extremely fresh – a real delight. To end in style, a magnificent 1959 was served with matured and refined cheeses that brought out its flavor.

It was a memorable and pleasant luncheon in the company of a real connoisseur who was sensitive to Brane’s philosophy and wines.

Depuis la fin du mois de novembre 2008, la taille est en cours. Cette étape clé dans la vie du vignoble a lieu pendant la phase de repos hivernal de la vigne, qui commence avec la chute des feuilles (novembre) et se termine au débourrement (mars/avril). Elle représente environ 4 mois de travail dans des conditions moins que clémentes, parfois même très pénibles.

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Pruning has been underway since late November 2008. This key phase in the life of the vineyards takes place in the winter when the vines are resting. It starts with the falling of leaves (November) and finishes with the budbreak (March/April). It represents around 4 months of work in less-than-mild and sometimes very harsh conditions.

The main goal of pruning is to totally or partially eliminate certain components of the vines, including lignified/matured shoots, buds and old wood. It makes it possible to regulate the quantity of fruits that will be produced the next year, by selecting a certain number of buds that will yield the future clusters. There is therefore a direct relationship between the number of buds left when pruning and the number of clusters a vinestock holds.

Pruning the vine is also a way to limit the extension of wood in order to have clusters as close as possible to the vinestock, thus favoring a better supply of sap and more rich and concentrated grapes. What’s more, it makes it possible for the clusters to be well spread out, which limits having bunches of grapes that are less exposed to the sun's rays.

The 2008-2009 pruning season is particularly important for one of our wine growers, who is starting his last year with Brane. After over 15 years working on the property, he will be retiring after the 2009 harvest.

L'épreuve annuelle des assemblages s'est conclue cette semaine...

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The annual blending season ended this week…

After around three weeks of intensive tasting and in-depth analyses, Henri Lurton and his technical team – made of Christophe Capdeville (operations director), Charles Ravinel (vineyard manager) and Maria Martinez (quality manager) – performed the 2008 blending of Château Brane-Cantenac, Baron de Brane and Château Notton. They followed the shrewd advice of Jacques and Eric Boissenot, our specialized oenologists.

During the first tasting, 38 batches of press wine were tasted and classified into 4 categories. Each batch comes from the pressing of marcs from one or more plots with the same grape varietal.

Those batches belonging to the same category are sampled at variable proportions, using a test tube. They are then blended in magnums. They are tasted and compared, so as to readjust the proportion until a press wine is obtained that best reflects the vintage’s potential. The work is laborious and precise, and makes it possible to form batches of press wine that will make up each of our three wines.

The same operation is performed for free-run wines (30 batches this year) and here again, the quality of the tannins, and the structure and aromatic potential of each batch are judged.

The last phase of this delicate operation involves tasting the selected batches of free-run wine and press wine which in turn will be blended in variable proportions so as to find the final and ideal blend of Brane, Baron and Notton 2008.

This vintage is characterized by a dark robe, deep aromatic intensity, and a firm structure, while the tannin provides a fine, elegant texture. A superb Margaux!

The 2008 blends break down as follows: Château Brane-Cantenac: 70% cabernet sauvignon, 28% merlot, 2% cabernet franc; Baron de Brane: 58% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot, 2% cabernet franc; Château Notton: 48% cabernet sauvignon, 52% merlot

To give Château Brane-Cantenac 2008 its superior quality, the accent was placed on a very strict selection, because once again this year, only 1/3 of our wine will be great wine, or barely 33%.

Always concerned with developing racy wines that best reveal the typicality of Brane’s terroir, Henri Lurton gave the great wine a fine, elegant and refined style, like the gravel from our finest plots.

Once again, Château Brane-Cantenac embodies the classicism of the Médoc region, as was recommended by our two consultants, Jacques Boissenot and his son Eric, a flattering portrait of whom you will find below, written by Claude Petit and which appeared in the Thursday February 5 edition of the Sud-Ouest newspaper.

We are proud to announce that Château Brane-Cantenac 2008 is born!