Stranger & Stranger
Kind Stranger
Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
super light power cab love it
with shallot butter spicy shrimps tho — 6 years ago
Welcome Stranger
OPTICAL ILLUSION MENDOCINO Chardonnay Merlot
Bright and tart, but with a hint of sweetness. — 6 years ago
François Crochet
Sancerre Rouge Pinot Noir 2016
Had the chance to taste this when a stranger poured me a glass at Le Coq Rico, Paris. Amazing. — 8 years ago
Château Brane-Cantenac
Grand Cru Classé en 1855 Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 2005
I have a six-pack of this 05. I thought after 10 years in bottle, it would be interesting to check in on its evolution. While tasty, I’ll wait another 8-10 to open another. Even after 2-3 hours in the decanter, it’s still a very young adolescent. On the nose, slightly sour blackberries & dark cherries, dark currants, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, anise, whiff of spice, steeped tea, dry stones, dry crushed rocks with dry top soil, caramel, vanilla with fresh & dry red florals. The body is thick & full. Tannins are starting to round out. It’s velvety on the palate. The fruits are; bright, fresh & ripe and really show the greatness of the 05 vintage. Dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, baked strawberries, cherries, raspberries on the long set, dark spice, clay & loamy dry top soil with crushed rocks, dry stones, cigar with ash, graphite, dry stems, slight herbaceous character, mint, used leather, clove, caramel, vanilla, fresh & dry red florals with violets. The round acidity is about perfect. The structure and length are still strong. The balance is in harmony. As for the long finish, it’s lush, ruby, rich and well polished. Photos of; Chateau Brane Cantenac, large wood vats, Henri Lurton and Estate vines. Producer notes and history...Chateau Brane Cantenac began in the early 17th century. At the time, the estate was known as Domaine Guilhem Hosten. Even that far back, wine was produced from the property. In fact, the wine was so highly regarded it was one of the more expensive wines in Bordeaux. It sold for almost as much money as Brane Mouton. This is interesting because of who went on to buy the vineyard in the 1800’s. The Baron of Brane, also known as “Napoleon of the Vineyards”, purchased the Chateau in 1833. At the time of the sale, the estate was called Chateau Gorce-Guy. To get the funds needed to purchase the Margaux vineyard, the Baron sold what is now called Mouton Rothschild, which was at the time of the sale, known as Chateau Brane-Mouton. Not such a good move with hundreds of years in hindsight! In 1838, the Baron renamed property taking his name and the name of the sector where the vineyards were located and called it Chateau Brane Cantenac. The Chateau later passed to the Roy family, who were well-known in the Margaux appellation in those days, as they owned Chateau d’issan. Moving ahead to 1920, the Societe des Grands Crus de France, a group of merchants and growers that owned several chateaux located in the Medoc including; Chateau Margaux, Chateau Giscours, and Chateau Lagrange in St. Julien, purchased Chateau Brane Cantenac. Five years later, M. Recapet and his son-in-law, François Lurton, took over Brane Cantenac along with Chateau Margaux. Lucien Lurton (the son of François Lurton) inherited Brane Cantenac in 1956. Today, the estate is still in the hands of the Lurton family. Brane Cantenac is owned and run by Henri Lurton. After being given the responsibility of managing Brane Cantenac, it was under the direction of Henri Lurton that large portions of the vineyard were replanted. Vine densities were increased, the drainage systems were improved and the plantings were also, slowly changed. The vineyard of Brane Cantenac is planted to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and .5% Carmenere. Carmenere was used for the first time in the 2011 vintage. The only other Chateau I know that still uses Carmenere is Clerc Milon. The 75 hectare Left Bank vineyard of Brane Cantenac is essentially unchanged since it earned Second Growth status in the 1855 Classification. At least that is the case with the 45 hectares used to produce the Grand Vin of Brane Cantenac. Those 45 hectares are planted surrounding the Chateau. Those vines are located just in front of the Cantenac plateau and are the best terroir that Brane Cantenac owns. They have other parcels, which are further inland and much of those grapes are placed into their second wine, Le Baron de Brane. Those additional hectares can be divided into 3 main sections. Behind the Chateau, they have 15 hectares of vines on gravel and sand, 10 hectares across the road with sand, gravel and iron and a 13 hectare parcel with gravel called Notton, which is used for their second wine. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,666 vines per hectare on the plateau and up to 8,000 vines per hectare for the vines located behind chateau, in their sandier soils. The higher levels of vine density are always found in the newer plantings. The terroir of Brane Cantenac consists of deep gravel, sand and clay soil. Experiments in the vineyards are currently looking at becoming more organic in their vineyard management. Today, more than 25% of Brane Cantenac is farmed using organic farming techniques. It is expected that over time, the amount of hectares farmed with organic methods will be increased. Brane Cantenac has gone through 2 relatively recent modernization’s in 1999, when they added began adding the first of their smaller vats to allow for parcel by parcel vinification and then again in 2015 when they completed a much more complete renovation of their cellars and vat rooms. While Brane Cantenac is a traditional producer, they are no stranger to technology as they were one of the first estates to embrace optical grape sorting machines. In very wet vintages, they can also use reverse osmosis. To produce the wine of Chateau Brane Cantenac, the wine is vinified in a combination of temperature controlled, traditional, 22 oak vats, 18 concrete tanks and 20 stainless steel vats that vary in size from 40 hectoliters all the way up to 200 hectoliters, which allows for parcel by parcel vinification. 40% of the fermentation takes place in the oak vats. The oldest vines are vinified in vats that are selected to allow for separate parcel by parcel vinification. The younger vines are vinified more often together in the same vats. However, the Carmenere is entirely micro-vinified, meaning that those grapes were completely vinified in barrel, using micro-vinification techniques. This can also happen because the amount of grapes produced is so small. Some vats can be co-inoculated, meaning they go through alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation simultaneously. At Chateau Brane Cantenac, malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of French oak tanks and barrels. The wine of Brane Cantenac is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for 18 months before bottling. The initial 2 months of aging is done with the wine on its lees, which adds more depth to the wine. There second wine is Le Baron de Brane. Le Baron de Brane is not new. In fact, previously, the second wine went under the name of Chateau Notton, which took its name from one of the main parcels where the grapes were planted. During the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s, having a second wine was important as the estate declassified 3 vintages, due to extremely poor, weather conditions in 1956, 1960 and 1963. Production of Chateau Brane Cantenac is about 11,000 cases per year. — 8 years ago
Tall Dark Wines
Tall Dark Stranger Malbec
Delicious.
— 3 years ago
Domaine Maestracci
Clos Reginu Corse Calvi Red Blend 2017
Garnet verging on brick.
I smell very earthy aromas; horse farm, camp fire and soot.
A real stranger on the pallete. First I'm hit with a red fruit, not cherry or any of the common fruit notes- something more natural and tart, not as tart as a cranberry but I'm thinking of mixed dried currants with fresh goose berries and the Sirah comes through with a touch of black pepper and there is just a touch of effervescence from this natural creation.
35% niellucciu 30% grenache 15% sciaccarellu 15% sirah 5% mouvedre
Thank you Kermit Lynch for bringing in this taste of Corsica! — 4 years ago
Claude Dugat
Gevrey-Chambertin Pinot Noir 2014
Wanting to try this for a while and did not disappoint; superb nez and gorgeous throughout. Excellent with a new season of Stranger Things :) — 7 years ago
Stranger & Stranger
The One Armed Man Limited Release Red Blend
Very good. — 8 years ago
Tenuta di Arceno
Valadorna Toscana Red Blend 2009
Sitting on the soft, grassy hillside of a beautiful Tuscan Villa, looking out over the peaceful rolling hills, bathed in sunshine. As you take in this magestic pastoral scene, a stranger appears.... he's wearing a baseball cap and listening to an iPod.... Must be an American. But, strangely.... This adds to the experience. — 8 years ago
Marchesi Antinori
Solaia Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2008
2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣8️⃣
🗞 $2.8 Trillion subprime 📉, Large Hadron Collider, 1st👨🏾president
🎵 Bleeding Love, Single Ladies
🎥 Dark Knight, Iron Man, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E
🗣 What doesn't kill you makes you stranger
🌍 6.7B
😍 @ £100 paid! Bargain 😁
🍷 Opaque ruby
👃 Melted rich mint cocoa, ripe black fruits, dark plum, blueberry & herbs w/ minerals, gravel, earth, violets & leather
👄 Full bodied silky rich creamy cocoa covered blackcurrant, blueberry & cherry
🎯 Long teeth staining black & blue fruit + mocha 💥 — 8 years ago
Cult Partners
Tall Dark Stranger Limited Production Mendoza Malbec
One of my new favorites. Smooth yet inexpensive. — 10 months ago
Cantina Ar.Pe.Pe.
Riserva Buon Consiglio Grumello Valtellina Superiore Nebbiolo 2016
Pepper, dark fruit, and like meeting a tall dark mysterious stranger. So freaking delicious 🙌🙌🙌 — a year ago
Blue Ox Wine Co.
Stranger Than Paradise California Sparkling Passetoutgrain Red Blend 2019
Racy California-grown Beaujolais with a tart pomegranate kick, and lovely black cherry notes. — 5 years ago
Kind Stranger
Columbia Valley Rosé Blend
Vinho Verde ish, be achy, melon, elderflower, light — 6 years ago
Stranger & Stranger
The One Armed Man Dry Creek Valley Red Blend 2016
Cinco de Mayo — 7 years ago
Takeda Winery
Vin de Michinoku Tohoku Red blend 2017
This wine was given to me by a stranger, whom I now call friend, on our first meeting while I was traveling in Japan. Why? Just because I was curious. He spoke no English, I spoke no Japanese, but wine was our language and Google was the enabler.
The wine is an oddity - made of 6 grapes from the 6 prefectures of Tohoku, bottled fresh post-ferment, meant to be drunk across the country at 1900 on 11th March each year, to commemorate the losses of the 311 Tohoku Earthquake.
For me, this wine exemplifies all the good in wine. Wine has the uncanny ability to break down barriers, and to bring out the spirit of generosity, but most importantly, to make people happy. And this wine is happy! It's bright, fresh, umami, super glouglou, made for a good cause, shared among good people :) Happy happy! — 8 years ago
Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego
2013 vintage. Decanted and tasted after one hour and 3 hours. Medium body. Dark fruit and no stranger to structure. Balanced but on the dry side of the ledger. No front-running, plushy pony here. Really nice stuff and not recommended to pop as the extra bottle for the casual palate. 5.23.26. — a month ago