Wine Words & Video Tape

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Château Boyd-Cantenac

Boyd Cantenac

Address: 33460 Cantenac

Telephone: 05 57 88 90 82

Visits: by appointment

Contact: Lucien Guillemet

e-mail: contact@boyd-cantenac.fr

website: www.boyd-cantenac.fr

One of three Margaux estates with commune name Cantenac in them, the others being Château Brane-Cantenac and Château Cantenac Brown, Château Boyd-Cantenac was created in 1754 by Jacques Boyd a Frenchman with Irish origins. The estate was bought by John Lewis Brown in 1806 and was designated a third growth in the 1855 classification. It was then owned by the Ginestets until its sale to the Guillemet family in the early 1930s who remain the owners today. Along with Château Pouget, also owned by the Guillemets, Château Boyd-Cantenac remains one of the more obscure of the Margaux crus classé. It has had a reputation for inconsistency in the past but whatever the quality of the older vintages the 2005 and 2009 tasted recently were both top drawer.

Vineyard: 17 ha [42 acres], sandy gravels on the Cantenac plateau, average vine age 38 including 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. Vineyard density 10,000 vines per hectare. No chemical fertiliser used.

Winemaking/Elévage: Vinification in stainless steel and concrete tanks with temperature control with a two to five week maceration depending on the vintage. Twelve to eighteen months ageing in oak barriques [made from split as opposed to sawed staves], 30-60% of which is new wood. Malolatic fermentation is partly done in barrel and the wine is given extended lees contact. No filtration since 1997. Second wine Jacques Boyd.

Tasting notes

  • 2010 Deep looking; lifted, earthy blackcurrant aromatics with plummy spice tones; roasted coffee bean notes [oak]; has fruit and quite seductive; good fruit on the palate with quite a bit of oak present but also undergrowth and earthy tones; little dry on the finish but this is substantial Boyd-Cantenac with quite a bit of chew to the tannin. Reminds me of their very good 2005. Drink 2017-2030. 91+ MW Institute Nov ’14
  • 2009 Deep and saturated looking; blackcurrants, plums, toast and coffee bean notes; intense; full and lush on the palate with lots of saturation and extract and real depth. Blackcurrants and spicy oak. Drink 2015-2030. 92+ MW Institute, Nov ’13 [Earlier note] Mid black and saturated; earthy blackcurrant, undergrowth; feels layered; some coffee bean again; nicely ripe palate with some degree of concentration; layered and attractive. Very good effort. 91+ April ’12 Drink now – 2030
  • 2005 Mid black, saturated; roast coffee beans, violets and cassis, deep and complex – impressive stuff; palate pent up but wonderful intensity and elegance. Will open out but quite seductive at present too. Nice tension between the richness and the elegance. Really excellent. 90-92+/100 Nov ’09 Drink now -2025+

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