2014 Château Branaire-Ducru
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
A more natural style of fruit on the nose here. Broad. Some spice. This is laid back and unforced. Some volume to this. Honest, and good. Joss Fowler, FINE+RARE, April 2015.
Critic scores
FINE+RARE
Wine Spectator
More reviews and scores
The 2014 Branaire-Ducru has a "quieter" bouquet than its peers, a little muted at first, though well-defined with mainly black tertiary fruit laced with tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins. It's a classically styled Saint-Julien that might lack a bit of substance for some on the finish, though it conveys a sense of drinkability. It's one of the few Left Bank wines to show better now than six years earlier. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.
Tasted blind. Bricky rim. Scented and inviting with black and dark-red fruits. Silky tannins. Somehow a little flat/bitter on the finish. (JH)
About the producer
This Fourth Growth estate, just a stone’s throw from the wide expanse of the Gironde estuary, has been revitalised under the stewardship of former banker and businessman Patrick Maroteaux, who purchased the property in 1988.