Chateau Branaire-Ducru 1999

Grand Cru Classe en 1855
Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
13% alcohol

The Wooden Guys liked this one!

Night One

The color is garnet, but starting to turn to brick. The rim thins out with a hint of brown just before it turns clear.

This wine has a big strong nose. It has a lot of barnyard funk to open, but that blows off quickly. Then it brings a lot of smoky meat, real cigar box (cedar and tobacco) and a bucketload of red fruit.

The palate is big, too. It carries that bucketload of fruit from the nose to the mouth. It has smoked meat, pencil lead, and cedar. Flowers join on the midpalate. Tannins are very fine but still powerful, a rigid backbone that offers a promise of more years in the cellar.

Night Two

Red fruit, lots of red fruit, opens the nose. Cigar box follows, cedar first, then if you sniff deeply, tobacco second.

I don't want to stop drinking this long enough to reveiw it. The palate, like the nose, explodes with red fruit. Pencil lead, cedar and tobacco, then violets and a touch of clove. Tannins are smooth and silky, but still retain enough power to coat and dry the mouth.

This is good wine. It is still fruity and a little tannic, hinting to a lot more life left in the cellar.