Château Cantenac-Brown

Margaux third growth Château Cantenac Brown has been sold to Frenchman Tristan Le Lous for an estimated €150 million.

A 40 year-old agricultural engineer acquired the property from the British-Syrian Simon Halabi.

Local paper Sud-Ouest mentioned that the estimated price paid was €150m but the financial details of the sale have not been disclosed.

Le Lous commented: “The first glance of Château Cantenac Brown can really make your heart swell. Every time I see the Tudor-style castle overlooking the Gironde estuary through the morning mist I have a strong emotional reaction.”

In a statement issued by the new owners, it was revealed that a large investment plan is planned which will, among other things, add a new winery with a vat room that will allow parcel vinifications.

It was also made clear that Le Lous plans to continue the estate’s commitment to environmentally-friendly viticulture and winemaking – which has been the case since 2006 – with plans to evolve and develop farming methods further.

Le Lous continued: “This project is in line with our family’s passion for vines and my predilection for fine wines, especially from the Bordeaux region, which I have come to know thanks to my wife who is from the area.

“Château Cantenac Brown is one of the crown jewels of the Médoc region. As an agricultural engineer, I have very high expectations for this grand cru, given the exceptional quality of its terroir. Our challenge, with the recognised expertise of José Sanfins and the entire team, will be to provide the utmost precision at each step of the technical manufacturing process to produce, year after year, one of the best Margaux wines.”

John-Lewis Brown (1769-1851) acquired the estate in the early 19th century and decided to build in the village of Cantenac, a Tudor style chateau reminiscent of his Scottish origins.

The building is one of the most unusual in Médoc region and is surrounded by a remarkable English-style ground. The quality of the wine was acknowledged in the 1855 classification, when Château Cantenac Brown was included into the growths. The Bordeaux winemerchant and owner of several estates in Médoc, Louis Armande Lalande (1820-1894), extended the building, keeping the same architecture.

One hundred fifty years later, the Simon Halabi family has given a new impetus to this estate with a British atmosphere…which they are determined to raise to the very highest level.

José Sanfins presently manages Château Cantenac-Brown. He does his utmost to make the best of the magnificent terroir, lavishing the greatest of care on the soil and the vines, with great respect for the environment. This meticulous attention to detail continues into the cellar, where everything possible is done to produce an exceptional wine.

With José Sanfins in charge, methods have changed.

The vineyard is managed in a more environmentally friendly way: the “sustainable approach” goes without saying. The vines are cared for throughout the year and yields are perfectly controlled. Strictly plant-based fertilizers are applied in a moderately and balanced way in tune with the needs of the vines.

This respect for Nature explains why the Château Cantenac Brown team continues to use the traditional soil maintenance techniques, which gradually enhance the structural, chemical and biological properties of the earth.

“A perfect match between Men and Nature…”Over 400 000 vinestocks are managed every year. Pruning, removal of buds, leaves and secondary shoots, hand harvest …, several times per year the whole team works vine by vine and checks each single cluster. Such a sharp selection does not replace the environment. The finest wines are given by the Nature.

September – October: Harvest put in concrete form the work after a whole year, the season is as hectic as friendly for the team.

Over hundred pickers come and help us during several weeks.
The team work is of prime necessity.
According to their maturity, parcels are harvested one after each other.
Hand-picked grapes are transported to the stainless steel temperature controlled vats.

Hand-selected grapes

First, the harvesting team sorts manually bunch by bunch; A second selection happens on vibrating sorting tables or with an optical sorting machine. Then start fermentations:

• Alcoholic fermentation lasts for around ten days.

• Malolactic fermentation occurs in barrels and vats.

• Plots are vinified separately according to grape variety and age, which allows for great precision in selection when Château Cantenac Brown is finally blended.

After fermentation, the wine is aged for 12 to 15 months in French oak barrels (made of split oak staves form the forests of Central France) 50% to 70% of the barrels are new and 50% to 30% are one-year old. Air slowly penetrates through the pores in the wood and gently oxidizes the wine. The oak contributes to the elegance of its tannins. At the same time, the restricted volume of the barrel facilitates the precipitation of the lees over the months. During this ageing process the wine is finely racked, thus separating the clear wine from the lees. Each racking process is carried out from barrel to barrel and clarity is checked by holding a glass of the wine before a candle. Two cellar workers are responsible for this job throughout the year. When one racking cycle has been completed, it is time to start the next one.

Once aged, the wine is returned to the vats to prepare for bottling. At this point, and to ensure that all bottles are perfectly identical, another assembling operation is carried out: The wine from the new barrels and the wine from the one-year old barrels have aged differently. The following fining process uses egg whites to clarify and stabilize the wine and any particles precipitate to form a deposit, preventing the sediment being transferred to the bottle.