A spectacular effort from this estate rivaling their 2005, but more flashy/flamboyant, this dark ruby/purple wine has a strikingly intense nose of licorice, flowers, plums and dark berries. Medium to full-bodied, very approachable and silky, this suave, very sexy wine can be drunk early on as well as aged for 20+ years.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #199, Feb 2012)

Showing beautifully, the 2009 Château Brane-Cantenac is loaded with classic Margaux notes of sandalwood, dried flowers, spice, truffle, and blackcurrants. Based on 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc brought up in 70% new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied and has a beautifully textured, elegant mouthfeel, terrific mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It's a quintessential, elegant yet textured, concentrated Margaux to enjoy over the coming 10-15 years. Nov 2020

Wow, this has really blossomed with time in the bottle. With just a bit of lightness to the color starting to shine though, there is a richness and silkiness found in the fruit that makes this impossible not to want to take another sip. Rich and seductive, the wine is elegant, supple, long, and fresh. There is a refreshing minty note on the palate that accompanies the sweet fruit adding complexity and pleasure. You can start drinking this now, or age it for a few more years and enjoy it for at least 2 decades or more after that. Drink from 2025-2045. Tasted July 2022

Plenty of Margaux balance and effortless elegance here, showcasing a concentrated blackcurrant and blackberry fruit character. Soft smoky oak comes in on the finish, with fine tannins and gentle floral aromatics. Only 37% of the production make it into the 1st wine, aged in 70% new oak. The vineyard here lies across a gravel outcrop, with certain sections that are sandy-gravel, with the 1st wine invariably Cabernet Sauvignon dominant. Drinking Window 2020 - 2040
Blind tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 21 Oct 2020)
Part of Anson: How to blind taste Bordeaux wines

The 2009 Brane-Cantenac was picked from September 22 to October 9 with a modest 13.4° alcohol. This has long been a great Margaux. It is very delineated and yet very generous on the bravura bouquet of blackberry, raspberry, crushed stone, cedar and a touch of mint. The palate is fresh and bursting with energy right from the start. There is plenty of weight and presence here, but that tension binds this Brane-Cantenac together. Then there is that Pauillac-inspired, graphite finish that lingers for 45+ seconds. This is one of Henri Lurton’s best wines. Tasted at the Brane-Cantenac vertical at the château.

Ripe and fleshy, with an enticing mix of linzer torte, currant confiture and crushed plum fruit offset by hints of briar and bay leaf. The long finish lets roasted apple wood, singed iron and tobacco leaf notes fill in, while staying plush in feel. Combines the ripeness of the vintage with a nice old-school feel. Best from 2013 through 2025. 12,500 cases made. — JM

Plenty of fresh plum fruit alongside the bitter chocolate in the nose, but on the palate this retains the Margaux lightness and elegant dryness, the finish just slightly warm. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019) - Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com, March 2019

Good deep red. Pretty cassis and floral aromas. Silky, subtle and fresh, with sound acidity framing the pungent dark berry and lightly herbal flavors. Very nicely balanced wine with an elegant finish featuring suave tannins, an intriguing saline quality and subtle persistence.

Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2009 Brane-Cantenac displays notes of warm red and black plums, Morello cherries and mulberries with hints of spice cake and earth. Medium-bodied, elegant, soft and fleshy, it delivers a lively line of freshness and an earthy finish.

(a blend of 53% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot and 7% cabernet franc; 13.2% alcohol; ph 3.87; IPT 75; 37% selection) Aromas of spicy plum, stony minerals and herbs are currently a bit subdued. Suave and fine-grained, with a light touch to its rather wild flavors of blackcurrant, licorice, minerals and violet. Finishes with easygoing tannins that turned a bit dusty with air, as well as a touch of heat. This will need plenty of bottle age to pull itself together and develop complexity and flesh. But I like the way this wine expresses its appellation clearly in this very ripe year.

[53CS/40M/7CF] Restrained cabernet cassis, a profound impression on the nose; a lovely Brane balance: rich, supple yet fresh with a particularly fine grained tannin and a fine concentration; long, graceful, ripe cassis cored wine, gently complex, long across the palate, typical Margaux in its proportions and style, very Cabernet Sauvignon in its blackcurrant fruit flavour; this has all the fleshiness (lovely Merlot) of the best of the vintage, and a fine, warm, spicy length. Very nice indeed. 2020-30+

53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc. 48.4 hl/ha. Crimson hue. Ripe and rich with just enough acidity. Caressing fruit and texture but the tannins firm and present on the finish. Decent length but not the dimension of 2010. (JL)

Transparent crimson. Nose is much more evolved than most 2009s. Initially seductive but the wine could do with a bit more lift and energy. A stodgy finish with some astringency. (JR)