2009 Château Cantenac Brown, Margaux, Bordeaux

Dark crimson. Intense meat extract savoury nose. Then rather loose on the palate with the furry tannins coming in only on the very end. Reasonably dramatic wine, not at all in the classic Margaux mould. A little drying on the finish, and just a slight lack of freshness. But certainly it has pzazz and impact. Determinedly modernistic. jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com - Apr 2010

Dense purple red, quite meaty, savoury nose with a good lift of freshness and spice, good extraction and good firm tannins, a fleshy, fragrant wine with a good future.

Tasted twice in Bordeaux, I must say that whatever was shown to me in cask certainly did not appear to be performing as well from bottle. It could be just that the wine has closed down, but I had thought this was an extraordinary wine and one of the big time sleepers of the vintage. The tannins have taken hold, and although the wine is still outstanding, any hopes of achieving a mid-90 point score, as I had hoped, seem highly questionable. Dense ruby/purple with notes of graphite, blackberries and forest floor, the wine is full-bodied, powerful, excruciatingly tannic and closed, and that may be why it’s not showing as well as I predicted. Certainly, this was the biggest discrepancy between barrel and bottle that I saw in the vintage, but the wine is still outstanding, just not profound. It will be interesting to revisit this wine in a number of years. Forget it for 7-8 years and drink it over the following 30. robert_parker - Wine Advocate - Feb 2012

Fresh berry and currant, with mint and spices. Full-bodied, with supervelvety tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Toasted oak, ripe fruit, everything. A beauty. Best ever. james_suckling - Wine Spectator - Apr 2010