Chateau Cantenac-Brown

Cantenac-Brown is a third growth in Margaux with a red brick house that looks like it was lifted out of the English home counties and dropped in the Medoc, which is roughly what happened. The wine has a reputation for being the firmest thing in the commune, and that is the part people get wrong in both directions. It is not a Pauillac in disguise, and it is not a wine that stays closed forever. It is a Margaux with more grip than the perfume leads you to expect.

The range divides two ways. There is the grand vin, which appears here across a long run of vintages, and there is the second wine, made from younger vines and the parcels that did not make the cut. The gap between them is structure and patience rather than quality of fruit: the second wine is ready earlier and asks less of your cellar.

Between the mid-priced and the top-priced vintages here, most of what changes is the year and the scarcity. Flavour stops moving well before price does.

The list below is sorted by price, lowest first.