Château Cantenac Brown 2009 is a Third Growth (Troisième Cru) from Margaux, and for this estate it’s often cited as a turning-point vintage under longtime director José Sanfins. The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon-driven (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot) at 13.5% alcohol, with reported production of 8,915 cases.
In the glass, the 2009 shows the classic Margaux tension between perfume and structure. Wine Spectator (92 points) captures the aromatic profile well, calling it “perfumy and very pure with lovely lilac and blackberry aromas,” followed by “plum, cassis and black cherry fruit,” finishing “caressed with toast.” Wine Enthusiast’s 93 points underscores the wine’s frame, describing a “firmly structured dark-fruited wine… very solid and dense,” with “black currant fruits and acidity,” and concluding it is “rich but seriously structured for aging.”
With bottle age, reviewers emphasize texture and secondary nuance. Jane Anson rates it an excellent 95 points and reports it is “fully open, welcoming, heading to tertiary,” with “tannins now melted and integrated,” and flavors moving into “charred cocoa, tar, vanilla bean, soy” alongside “autumnal blackberry and red cherry laced with smoked earth and sandalwood.” She adds useful technical detail: “60% new oak for ageing,” harvest from “September 23 to October 15,” with Eric Boissenot as consultant and 45% of the crop going into the first wine.
Other top-end praise is emphatic. Jeff Leve awards an excellent 96 points, calling it “sensuous, silky, concentrated… a beauty,” noting ripe fruit and refined tannins that make it enjoyable now, while suggesting additional cellaring for aromatic development.
Not every critic sees it as the most intricate of the era, but even Vinous (Neal Martin, 92 points) finds it “still attractive,” with “strawberry and raspberry fruit, iodine and light marine scents,” and predicts “20-30 years drinking fulfilment.” James Suckling (93 points) highlights its appeal as well: “crushed raspberries, flowers… silky tannins and a juicy finish,” with a “fresh and minerally” close.
