2010 Château Cantenac Brown, Margaux, Bordeaux

66% Cabernet Sauvignon and 34% Merlot.

Inky-purple. Initially, the reserved nose opens with air to reveal pure, vibrant scents of crushed black cherry, violet and minerals. Juicy and tight in the mouth, with penetrating flavours of black cherry, cassis, smoke and coffee, it shows very good balance. It is a dense but weightless wine with wonderful energy and terrific lift. Finishes intensely minerally and long, with broad, mounting tannins that dust the palate. Cantenac Brown has been on a roll of late.

A wine with firm tannins that are polished and reserved, yet there's an underlying richness of fruit. Plums, blueberries and citrus character. Some tar, too. Juicy and delicious to taste. 

Drink from 2016 onwards

It displays a fine Cabernet fragrance on the nose with elegant fruit on the palate, full of black fruit flavours. The tannins are well-integrated but are a little closed now.

Tasted blind. Deep garnet with brick rim. Exotic ripe fruits, spice and sweet leather. But it's pretty tough on the palate. Finding a way through the tannins is hard, but give it time. 

Drink 2024 - 2030

The 2010 Cantenac Brown performed extremely well in the Southwold blind tasting. Here, the nose demands coaxing from the glass before revealing beautifully defined blackberry, boysenberry, earth and mint aromas, perhaps a little more floral than a couple of years ago. Medium-bodied on the palate, this 2010 is focused and delivers plenty of substance; it's quite linear at the moment, yet sophisticated, and is as fresh as a daisy on the finish. Superb. Tasted at the Cantenac Brown vertical at the château.

Drink 2023 - 2050

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux 2010 tasting. Wow - one of those wines that seemed to excel under blind conditions; this is a Margaux that should be taken seriously. The 2010 demonstrates a lot of extraction on the nose with liquorice-infused black fruit, iodine and blueberry jam. 

This is on the brink of being over-ripe - but it knows the line not to cross. The palate is medium-bodied with a succulent entry, generous and honeyed texture; the acidity is nicely judged and builds towards a multi-layered, sophisticated, and engaging finish. Long-term. 

The greatest Cantenac Brown I have ever tasted, the 2010 is one for the ages. Dense purple, with an extraordinary nose of sweet forest floor, blackberry jam, pen ink and graphite, this wine soars from the glass, giving it an aromatic dimension and intensity I have never seen from this estate. 

The tannins are present, as they are in most Cantenac Browns, but the wine’s sweetness, broad, skyscraper-like mouthfeel, dense, purple colour and spectacular length close to a minute) make this a giant classic and a fabulous sleeper of the vintage that remains under-priced, considering how great its potential may be. This is a wine for those with cold cellars and youthful DNA. It will need at least a decade of cellaring and should last 20-40 years. A classic!

Drink 2023 - 2063

Bright ruby-red. Sharply delineated if youthfully strict aromas of bitter cherry and violet. Then densely packed and juicy, with very firm underlying structure to the intense, rather cool flavours of cassis, minerals, liquorice and herbs. With its firm-edged tannins and serious spine, this wine conveys an impression of medicinal austerity today, but its inner-mouth perfume and length suggest that it will age beautifully.