The 2022 Cantenac Brown was a stunner from barrel. Now in bottle, it has a vivacious bouquet highlighting blackberry, wild strawberry and cedar aromas, with hints of violet emerging over time. It shows wonderful delineation and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, fruit that is a little blacker than its peers, gentle grip, nicely judged acidity and a very harmonious, persistent finish. This is a seductive, quite sensual Cantenac Brown worthy of their brand new winery. It’s superb. 95 points

The 2022 Cantenac Brown offers up copious dark fruit, chocolate, licorice, new leather and cloves. A wine of palpable volume and heft, the Cantenac Brown is a very big Margaux endowed with broad shoulders and plenty of volume. The tannins are large-scaled and imposing. I find the 2022 a bit tough in its overall feel, as it was en primeur. It will be interesting to see how it ages. Tasted two times with consistent notes. 92 points

A real golden patch for the Cantenac Brown team, with ever increasing confidence in extraction and expression, plenty of floral edges with inky plum and a vibrant violet rim. Things are pretty intense, with aromatics that are highly charged, with fresh acidities, intense violet and plum, good quality, rich and ripped texture. This is a good quality wine with heavy tannin imprint on the finish, and decades ahead of it. Fingerprints of the vintage, delivered with deft precision. 60% new oak barrels, 40% one vintage barrels for ageing. 95 points

A few years ago, this estate purchased 22 additional hectares in the heart of the plateau of Margaux, including old vine Cabernet Sauvignon that is now making an appreciable contribution to the blend, and that helps to explain why the 2022 Cantenac Brown is so good. Unwinding in the glass with notes of dark berries, plums, charcoal, pencil shavings and violets, it`s medium to full-bodied, rich and elegantly muscular, with a layered core, refined tannins and a penetrating finish. The finest wine that Jose Sanfins has produced to date, the 2022 only improved during the several weeks I spent in Bordeaux. It`s a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Merlot. 94-96 points