Chateau Arnauton Grand Sol 2004 (1x 75cl)

Classified as a fourth growth, Château Branaire-Ducru is located in the Saint-Julien appellation of Bordeaux. It was acquired by a family enterprise in 1988 and Patrick Maroteaux, who manages the estate, has made considerable improvements to the property. This has given the wine wonderfully consistent quality.

The wine is made in an innovative and practical winery that relies on gravity, eliminating the need to use pumps with the harvested fruit and wine. There is a wide range of tanks of different sizes, which makes it possible to carry out a considered and thorough selection based on the varying characteristics of the different vineyard plots. Around a third of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in new oak barrels. The wines are aged traditionally for between 18 and 24 months in barrels made from French oak (50% of which are new). They are always fined using egg white. 

Château Branaire Ducru is a wine with much complexity and it has the potential to age well over time. The 2008 has an attractive bouquet of ripe plums with densely packed red and black fruit aromas. The palate offers notes of forest, earth and cedar as well as tobacco and leafy notes. It has generous, dense tannins that will soften with age.