WTN: Brane teaser

[Jenise]

2000 Château Brane-Cantenac Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend
Pretty identical to bottle 16 months ago: garnet color, mildly floral nose with leathery, sweet dark cherry fruit, cassis and graphite. A joy to drink and a fun memory--not this vintage but an earlier one, this was the first-ever Bordeaux I tasted. I was 19, dating a 28 year old guy who had bought a case of it on a recommendation from a friend. At that time the best red wine I'd ever had, and probably only a month or three earlier, was Sterling Vineyards cabernet on a weekender to Napa Valley. The B-C was shockingly good, way beyond anything young Napa cabs had prepared me for.

[David M. Bueker]

Always good to remember those eye-opening wines.

There were two Bordeaux eye openers for me, served at the same blind tasting: 1979 Pichon Lalande and 1985 Leoville Poyferre.

Oddly enough I have never gone on to buy much of either. Poyferre went to the dark side, and Lalande got crazy pricey.

[Jenise]

After that early Brane-Cantenac, 13 years would pass before I had another Bordeaux, which was either Haut Bailly or Haut Battailey fished out of a supermarket basket of discounted wines in Irvine, CA. My memory of the wine compared to more experience suggests it was more likely Pessac than Paulliac, but of course I can't be sure. I just know that no California Cabernet I'd ever had, at least in the price range I typically purchased, had ever tasted like that.