2014 | Branaire-Ducru | Saint-Julien 9L

Very pure and expressive, featuring lovely violet and cassis aromas and flavors that stream forth, backed by light anise and graphite hints. Maintains a fresh feel through the finish, with light minerality engaging with the fruit.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The Château Branaire-Ducru is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc picked between 24 September with the early-ripening Merlot, and finishing on 11 October. The yields came in at 40 hectoliters per hectare and Patrick Maratoux explained the importance of waiting for the correct maturity of each parcel. It has a tightly wound bouquet with black cherries and orange peel aromas, focused if not quite as complex as say, Château Beychevelle. The palate is medium-bodied, sinewy in the mouth with tensile tannins. This is a wine that seems to be making a huge effort in this vintage, but I would like to see more finesse manifested on the finish by the time it is in bottle. You know, I think that will develop. That 12 to 13% vin de presse lends this Branaire Ducru impressive sustain on the finish and I suspect that it will coalesce throughout the barrel ageing in two-thirds new oak.

• James Suckling: This is a slightly shy mid-weight wine that is anything but a flashy one. If you have some patience though it has plenty of subtlety and sophistication.

Producer Information

Château Branaire-Ducru is a wine estate based the Saint-Julien appellation, in the Haut-Médoc region, on the so-called "left bank" of the Garonne estuary north of the city of Bordeaux. The estate was ranked a fourth growth in the 1855 Classification of Médoc and the Graves. The estate was founded in 1680 by Jean-Baptiste Braneyre, who reportedly saw the potential of the soils of the Bordeaux commune of Saint-Julien and the ability of Cabernet Sauvignon to flourish upon them. Before his death he gave his name to the estate, which was later changed to the current spelling, Branaire. Today the château encompasses 125 acres (50 ha) and is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, with some vines almost 90 years old. The property was once part of neighboring Château Beychevelle before it was broken up in the middle of the 17th Century to pay off the debts of the owners. Since 1988, Branaire-Ducru has been owned by Patrick Maroteaux, a former banker who fell in love with the Saint-Julien appellation and Branaire-Ducru itself. Under his ownership, 10 hectares (25 acres) have been added to the estate, and the winery and vineyards have undergone a complete modernization and renovation. Maroteaux's son, François-Xavier, has been in charge of the estate since 2017. The wines of Branaire-Ducru are pure in terms of their fruit and have the structure and integration to allow long aging. Château Branaire-Ducru is the estate's grand vin and approximately 300,000 bottles are produced a year. It is Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant, with the addition of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The wines spend 18 months on average in oak and are rested in the cellars before being released into the market. These are wines made to be opened after around 10 years in the bottle and have some of the highest percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon seen in wines from Saint-Julien. The second wine, Duluc de Branaire-Ducru is made from the estate's younger vines and released in a more approachable style than the grand vin. Maroteaux does not see the point in producing a third wine or extending his portfolio, as this would just drive up the price of his first wine based on the quantities of his wine rather than the quality.

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