For those who say Twitter is good for nothing and a waste of time, I am going to have to disappoint you. On the 17th, courtesy of Château Brane-Cantenac and the vinous blog 12×75.com, we had the great pleasure of tasting 7 vintages of Brane-Cantenac, delivered straight from the cellars of the chateau all for free in the respectable private dining room of Vivat Bacchus.
The reason for Brane-Cantenac, in the guise of the elegant Coco, being in London hosting a tasting was all thanks to a throw away tweet and a chance online encounter. 12×75.com are prolific tweeters and Château Brane-Cantenac is leading from the front with social-media and getting consumers to engage with their wines. Engage is probably too much a clinical word for what was an outstanding tasting of some of the best Margaux of the last ten years.
The highlight of the night was definitely the 2006/2005/2004 mini vertical comparison. The 2006 surprisingly open after only 2 hours decanting, that had a rather tapered mid palate but nonetheless delicious with a soft classic Margaux perfumed finish. Drinking the 2005 was tantamount to infanticide but likewise had been judiciously decanted and so we enjoyed the primacy of its youth. Still very dense and brooding but with a silkiness and weight in the mouth that my notes describe as “damned good!” The 2004 was surprisingly lighter in style in comparison to its two descendant vintages and noticeably more savoury; thankfully still an excellently made wine and one that is drinking very nicely now.
The real surprise was the 2002 which had weight and depth far beyond what you would expect from wines from that underwhelming year, and intriguingly still very closed and needing time. Coco certainly thought so and said that she looked forward to drinking it in 5 years’ time.
A cursory search on twitter of the night including the hash tag #7wwr will tell you what the rest of the trade, journalists and enthusiasts thought of the excellent wines of Chateau Brane Cantenac.
So, next-time you see a Hash Tag, like say #goedhuisrose, don’t think it’s only for youths with asbos, follow it up. There might be a delicious glass of wine in there for you!