A real golden patch for the Cantenac Brown team, with ever increasing confidence in extraction and expression, plenty of floral edges with inky plum and a vibrant violet rim. Things are pretty intense, with aromatics that are highly charged, with fresh acidities, intense violet and plum, good quality, rich and ripped texture. This is a good quality wine with heavy tannin imprint on the finish, and decades ahead of it. Fingerprints of the vintage, delivered with deft precision. 60% new oak barrels, 40% one vintage barrels for ageing.

The 2022 Cantenac Brown has an elegant nose, showing pure black cherry, wild strawberry, blackcurrant pastilles and cedar aromas. I appreciate the mineralité here. The palate is medium-bodied with supple but firm tannins, nicely structured. There's a crescendo of fruit toward the mineral-driven finish. Cohesive and full of character, this is another superb Margaux from an estate in the ascendant under winemaker José Sanfins.

A few years ago, this estate purchased 22 additional hectares in the heart of the plateau of Margaux, including old vine Cabernet Sauvignon that is now making an appreciable contribution to the blend, and that helps to explain why the 2022 Cantenac Brown is so good. Unwinding in the glass with notes of dark berries, plums, charcoal, pencil shavings and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, rich and elegantly muscular, with a layered core, refined tannins and a penetrating finish. The finest wine that José Sanfins has produced to date, the 2022 only improved during the several weeks I spent in Bordeaux. It's a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Merlot.

The dense purple-hued 2022 Château Cantenac Brown is based on 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Merlot. A beautiful Margaux, it offers lots of smoky red and black fruits intermixed with violets, graphite, and lead pencil-like nuances. With medium to full-bodied richness, a vibrant spine of acidity, and nicely integrated tannins, it plays in the more focused, elegant, pretty end of the spectrum. It's going to reward a solid 5-7 years of bottle age.

A solid Margaux with creamy and fine tannins that spread across the palate. Medium-bodied, layered and already delicious. Hints of dried citrus at the end.

The 2022 Cantenac Brown is a powerhouse. Dense and massively constituted, the 2022 stains the palate with inky black fruit, leather, dark chocolate, cloves and licorice. In this tasting, Cantenac Brown comes across as rather monolithic, with the radiance and very low yields of the year very much on display.

69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot. Deep crimson with a black core. Open and inviting with such pure, dark fruit. Juicy, sweet on the palate, with thick, chocolate-textured tannins. Big and rich. Deep, powerful but really well balanced. (JH)

69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot. Undergoing massive renovation currently by the new owners. Hoping to be ready for the 2023 harvest. Cask sample. Very deep purple. Juicy, perfumed nose. Very polished tannins and some real concentration. Pretty good wine, even if it was made in a cellar in transition. Some Margaux suavity. And quite a charge of well-managed tannin. (JR)