Château Brown: Tasting & Drinking
With limited knowledge of Château Brown I first visited the estate in 2006, and I could see even in those early stages the positive effect the work carried out during the first year or two of Jean-Christophe Mau’s tenure was having on the wines, although obviously the superlative 2005 vintage, and the under-rated 2004 vintage, had given him and his team something of a helping hand. Nevertheless, this was not just a vintage effect I think, because the quality has been maintained and improved upon since.
Looking at the red wines first, there were very fine wines made in benevolent years such as 2009 and 2010, although that is perhaps not that unusual. What is perhaps more significant is that in lesser years, such as 2008 and 2012 (both under-rated vintages for the region), the wine has also been of high quality, and even more remarkable is the very impressive nature of the 2007, one of the most difficult vintages of recent years. Since then the quality has been maintained, perhaps even crept upwards, as the wines produced in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 will attest. Even lesser vintages, such as 2017 and 2021, are worth checking out here.
As for the white wine, here great strides in quality have been made, and at this level Château Brown already trumps many of its classed growth peers. Jean-Christophe Mau picks later, mirroring practices at Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte and Domaine de Chevalier, and it seems clear that he is pushing quality towards this sort of level. Recent vintages of note include a fine and fresh 2011, and a very structured and upright 2010, as well as a rather more voluptuous 2009. The second of this trio of vintages seems to be the one to look for. From more recent vintages, warmer conditions did not make things easy, and softer styles in 2022, 2020, 2029 and 2018 are testament to this. Cooler years such as 2021 and 2013 showed a little more zip, but 2016 was a recent favourite. (30/1/07, updated 22/12/12, 7/7/24)
