How did I miss this? NM on Brane Cantenac

[AKR]

Neil Martin posted a gigantic expositary on 2nd Growth Brane Cantenac in the latest WA, I guess it must have been on Dec 30 or so. I have only been looking at the Northern Rhones notes in the new one, but this is totally worth reading. I'll post the first few paragraphs. Totally worth subscribing for this guy btw
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There is a pink moon. There is an enormous pink moon suspended by a thread over the vines of Brane-Cantenac, magnified by a bend in the atmosphere, tinged Rosé like a fine Provençal. Some people call it an "Egg Moon" or a "Sprouting Grass Moon". To me, it appears we are on a lunar collision course, counting down the final minutes of mankind's existence, but then I always do imagine the worst. Presuming I am not about to witness the end of civilization, I speculate whether it is a good or bad omen for the incipient 2015 vintage in Margaux? I hope the former.

It has been many years since the appellation asserted itself in the same manner as Saint Estèphe, Pauillac and Saint Julien when the wind blows in their direction. If Margaux is bestowed a great 2015 then Brane-Cantenac will surely be amongst the cast of high performers behind its leading star, Château Margaux. It is one of a handful of Margaux properties with the potential to elevate the reputation of the appellation that historically has been beset with properties content to tread water. Fortunately that is changing. But Brane-Cantenac has always read from a different hymn sheet to its peers. Given the nom de plume as the “Pauillac of Margaux,” its wines can be more austere and masculine than than like their perfumed and feminine neighbors. Like an under-performing schoolchild it can be easily misunderstood and misread when young, often demanding a decade of bottle age before it entertains the idea of drinkability. Brane-Cantenac is not for the impatient.

I have participated in three or four verticals of Brane-Cantenac down the years. During the 2015 and 2016 en primeur campaigns, Henri Lurton organized verticals of 2000-2012 and 1985-1999 respectively. It is time they saw the light because they both narrated the story of how this Margaux property endured a fraught period during the 1990s to come through and stake its claim as one of the great Margaux estates in the 2000s. I have recounted the history of Brane-Cantenac on several occasions and so here I replicate an article written in 2011, commencing with the history of the estate.

History

Flick the pages of history back to the 17th century and there in Margaux we discover the long-forgotten estate: Domaine Guilhem Hosten. Around 35-hectares in size and named after its proprietor, records indicate that around half the land was under vine. It is most likely to have been part of the seigneurie of Château d’Issan. Circa 1735, Guilhem Hosten passed into the hands of the Gorce or Gorsse family who eponymously renamed the cru. Little is known about the family’s origins although Clive Coates MW, writing in “Grand Vin”, suggests that their social standing was down to Pierre Gorce’s ascendancy through the ranks. From lowly beginnings in the 17th century he became court prosecutor, hence the prefixing of their name to “de Gorce”, de rigueur for any aspiring dynasty. Pierre’s grandson François became a member of the King’s Council in 1736 and his son, François the Second married Elizabeth Joseph Estèbe in 1760, who gave birth to Marie Françoise de Gorce four years later.

That's like 15% of the article, and I have not even skimmed the TNs.