1996 Chateau Cantenac Brown Margaux

The 1996 vintage was excellent in Bordeaux, especially in the Left Bank: The wines “have developed real complexity from all their years in bottle and seem to have just the right amount of well-developed fruit and weight,” wrote Jancis Robinson MW when she checked on the wines after 15 years.

But finding 1996 Bordeaux? That’s the real challenge. Most of them are long gone from the market, buried in restaurants’ wine lists or the cellars of serious collectors. So when we tasted this at Cantenac Brown and found out they had a small tranche available, we dropped everything so we could offer our members some of this perfectly cellared Third Growth Margaux.

This is drinking fabulously right now, showing a mesmerizing aromatic mélange of heady spices, dark plums, and classic Margaux graphite. On release, its tannins were noticeable—fierce even—but now they’re pure silk, carrying a wave of flavor into a long, luxurious finish. It’s as classic as aged Bordeaux gets.

Cantenac Brown stands out in Bordeaux’s Left Bank not just for its Tudor architecture—the château was originally designed and built by Scottish painter John Lewis Brown—but for what’s in the ground and what’s in the bottle. It’s a true-blue classic.

Blessed with fruit from old vines whose roots dig deep into the unique mixture of gravel, sand and clay that’s a signature of the famous Margaux hamlet of Cantenac, the wine finished as a  blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. In 1996, those vines were blessed with a comfortable growing season—generally warm and dry, with some well-timed rain to prevent hydric stress—that led to one of the best vintages of the decade in Margaux.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.00%
• 30 mins
• Now – 2032
• 60% Cabernet Sauvignon30% Merlot10% Cabernet Franc
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork