Branaire 00, Bel Air Marquis 2010

Two mildly disappointing wines!

Branaire Ducru 2000

Promising nose, with plums, spices, dark cherry and cedar. The attack was rich, deep and arresting, with trademark St.Julien spice alongside dark cherry and blackcurrant. So far, so good - but just when I was expecting it to ease through the gears into a long finish, it stopped dead, slinking away leaving nothing much behind. Very odd and rather frustrating. I had the same experience with the last bottle two years ago, although it was less pronounced than last night. The finish, such as it was, tasted diluted and weak. There was a slight improvement during the evening (I decanted two hours before tasting) but the impression remained the same. Many here like this, so perhaps I have a bad batch - EP is not a guarantee of quality. Anyway, purely on the basis of my experiences, I would choose the 02 over the 00 without hesitation - not least because it’s half the price.

Bel Air Marquis d’Aligre 2010

Curiosity got the better of me - I decanted this 6 hours in advance, expecting it to be very primary still, which it was. Quite a precise, concentrated set of aromas, ranging from blackberry to raspberry, with a hint of caramel and dusty stone. The first impression was very positive, albeit totally different to the older wines tried this year: strong red cherry, with a second wave of raspberry. After a while, the wine relaxed and the second wave started to ripple across the palate, with little peaks of flavour breaking through the dominant red cherry - some blackberry, more pronounced raspberry, a hint of wild strawberry and above all, a strong sense of stony earth (sounds weird I know), with a calming, dusty Margaux finale, just marred by an aftertaste of very acidic cherry. Sadly, the latter dominated more and more as the evening progressed. I’m not an expert, far from it, but I think the wine suffered from VA.

Overall, my first young Bel Air Marquis was an interesting experience: much more modern in style than the older wines and in blind conditions I would never have said it was BAMA. But also completely different to other 2010s I’ve tried. The acidity is there, obviously, the fruit is like that of the others, but the alcohol level is far lower (12.5°) and there are no aromas or flavours coming from oak. It somehow tastes more natural. Anyway, it needs many more years and I would imagine that a normal bottle without the VA would turn into an absolute gem.

I suppose there could and maybe will be some speculation here about aging curve etc, of Branaire, but I do not think I can really comment on that, largely because I drank mine. I have come to appreciate Branaire a lot over the last 20 years or so as reliable, well priced and delicious…but also as a very good wine, not a great one. And, as I mentioned, I drink them earlier than 18 yrs post vintage. So I guess my rhetorical question back is whether your expectations were on point or not. Sounds like you liked the wine pretty well.

Cheers Jim - well, I expected a very good Branaire from a very good vintage, so I was disappointed. I agree that Branaire isn’t generally speaking a top notch wine, even if the price has followed the general trend upwards. I was hoping for something as good as Lagrange 00, for example, which this bottle did not provide (nor did the one opened two years ago). I was probably just unlucky! I partly enjoyed the wine for what it was, but I’ve had far better 00s so that increased my frustration.

Thanks for taking one for the BAMA team last night, of course in respect to their big win over the Georgia Bulldogs last night, right!? Sounds more like a tainted bottle but does give me some trepidation. I have not pulled the trigger on the recent 2010 and 2009 releases, as I can still get 2000, 1996 and 1995 for less money. Go figure…

I don’t have a lot of experience with Branaire but have found them to age well and to provide a good medium bodied transparent St Julien. (Edited: I have not tried recent vintages.) 1999 last year was excellent and clearly still getting better.

+1 for current drinking.

Interesting; maybe tainted as suggested, but “interesting” because my preferences, in general, would always be to select Branaire over Lagrange. Always. Maybe Incorrectly sometimes, but that has been my experience.

What I coincidence…I’m sitting here with my last glass of the 2000 Branaire…and 2000 Leoville Las Cases. Both wines were opened and 1/2 decanted with the other half left in the bottle about 5 hours ago. While the Branaire is showing much better than it did 3&1/2 years ago, when it was a tannic mess, it’s still a disappointment. As Julian noted, the nose shows promise with some nice fruit transitioning to tertiary aromas, but the wine still has too much acid, which just clips the finish. It was much better with the prime center cut ribeye though. The LLC is a much better wine, but has yet to start its transition from a primary stage. Dominated by black fruit on the nose and palate, it’s still showing a little oak on the long smooth finish. The LLC should start rocking in another 5 years, while the Branaire is a BIG ?..as I have doubts that that it will ever come into balance…

We finished off both wines last night. The Branaire still waned when it should have been waxing, but the Bel Air was a lot better. Perhaps I did have a bad bottle of the Branaire, but Jeff’s note would suggest otherwise, so I shall exchange the remaining bottles for something else. The Bel Air was a lot less acidic, with more raspberry notes than before, so I’m optimistic about its future.

I have not had a lot of Branaire but I had a bottle of the 1982 in 2005 and it was one of the most memorable bottles I have ever had. My tasting note just read “Fruit Salad.” I had it the same night as a 1989 Haut Brion from magnum and a 1975 Cheval Blanc and I liked the Branaire the best. If I can remember exactly where and when and what it was drunk with 13 years later, it had to be good. I have been trying to find it again but it seems never to come up for sale, except once when that F’ing Spiker grabbed it at the last minute at an internet auction.

An exceedingly disappointing wine, this 2000 Branaire. Been following it for 2 nights. Has a very tart, sourish cherry note, with a bit of dank sock. I’m about to dump it, but since I just went running, I stink too so perhaps we meld.

Geez, disappointing for sure. I have high hopes for the 2015, which was quite nice albeit young at UGC-related tasting last winter

Geez, disappointing for sure. I have high hopes for the 2015, which was quite nice albeit young at UGC-related tasting last winter

CT notes on this wine are excellent. Surely my bottle cannot be representative, but then again, two others here have poor experience. I did buy 2014, 2012 and 2010. Generally a great QPR.

Sorry to read that, Robert - perhaps the wine was tainted by your socks? Bad smells can have an instant impact on wine! Sounds like you had a bad bottle, as did I - I can’t believe that all the notes on CT were wrong.