2015 Branaire Ducru
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind. Looks quite mature. Ripe fruit on the nose. Still unformed and a bit charmless. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Wine Spectator
More reviews and scores
The 2015 Branaire-Ducru has a refined bouquet with cranberry, redcurrant and a hint of tomato vine. This is understated compared to its peers but gains intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied and nuanced, with fine tannins. Just the right amount of dryness matched with sapidity urges you back on the finish. The 2015 is a lovely Saint-Julien. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting at Farr Vintners.
The 2015 Branaire-Ducru has a deep hue, almost opaque in the glass. The nose is quite precocious, more so than the previous bottle, with scents of black cherries, cassis and blood orange. Energetic and focused, crushed violet scents surface with continued aeration. The palate is quite sweet. I just have one concern about the warmth of alcohol on the back palate, though that seems to be addressed by considering aeration, allowing it to coalesce and muster more composure, especially on the finish. Give it several years in bottle.
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.