2011 Chateau Brane-Cantenac

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We really love Margaux so today we head to Margaux which is on the left bank of Bordeaux. We decided to open a 2011 Chateau Brane-Cantenac. In our opinion, this is one of the best valued 2nd growth wines you can get out there. 2011 is not the best vintage but not the worst as well. As you know, Bordeaux wines have great aging potential and the 2011 can definitely be kept for at least another 10-15 years. Cheers!

Tasting Date: February 27, 2016

Wine: Chateau Brane-Cantenac

Vintage: 2011

Grapes: 56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Blanc and 0.5% Carmenere

Producer: Henri Lurton

Location: Margaux, Bordeaux, France

Purchased Price: $49.99

Purchased Location: Total Wine

Tasting Notes: Beautiful color. Lots of Oak on the nose with dark fruits. Texture is very silky. Tannins were definitely present on this young wine. Decanting it for a few hours definitely helped. Fruity on the pallet with hints of dark fruits, plum, and cherries.

Would Buy Again: Yes!

1985 Chateau Dauzac - 30 years celebrated with 30 years of history

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Oh where to start.....First of all, it has been a while! We have been very busy this summer and it has kept us away from the blog a bit. However, don't worry! We are back and we have a lot coming up. 

This year we had a 30th birthday celebration. We thought, how special would it be to celebrate with a 30 year old bottle of wine? Chateau Dauzac is one of our favorite Bordeaux so we decided to take on the search. We started our search domestic. No such luck. Fortunately, we were able to take our search internationally and have a family member purchase a 1985 Chateau Dauzac in France and bring it back when they came to visit. Don't think because they were in France it was as easy a quick stop at the wine store. Days of searching lead us to the 1 bottle. Thank you WineSearcher.

As soon as we received the bottle we had our doubts. Was it well kept all these years? Did the traveling affect it? Is it past its peak? Either way we had to wait until the birthday celebration to find out. And we did. As we removed the foil, the cork was a bit popped out and looked in bad shape. Deep breath. We continue and use the monopol to remove such an old and fragile cork. Small pieces began to break off. 3/4ths of the way and the cork breaks. We push in the end of the cork into the bottle and pour the wine. At first sight, beautiful strong mauve red. At first smell, oaky and old but intriguing. We cheer and take our first sip. Silky, smooth and just past its peak. The celebration began!