Skip to content
Buy any 6 bottles and save 5%. Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
Buy any 6 bottles and save 5%. Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
2023 Alto de Cantenac Brown, Château Cantenac Brown

2023 Alto de Cantenac Brown, Château Cantenac Brown

Margaux, Bordeaux, France

Citrus Aria

Bright, poised and quietly luxurious, Alto opens with white peach, ripe gooseberry and tangerine peel, lifted by white flowers and delicate meadow herbs. A hint of pineapple brings a sunnier dimension, while chalky mineral notes keep the aromas beautifully focused. Oak sits discreetly behind the fruit, adding polish without overshadowing the wine’s fragrant, citrus-led character.

The palate combines juicy generosity with a crisp, mouthwatering line of acidity. A gently creamy texture gives the peach and citrus flavours substance, while a mineral edge carries through to a long, finely drawn finish. There is enough richness for butter sauces and roast poultry, alongside the freshness to flatter delicate seafood. Thoroughly inviting now, this is a white Bordeaux with the balance to develop further complexity over the next few years.

For when: Lunch deserves linen napkins and an unhurried second course.

Pairs with: Seared scallops with lemon butter, roast turbot with beurre blanc, grilled langoustines, chicken with tarragon cream, crab and fennel salad, or a warm goat’s cheese tart.

First produced in 2011, Alto is Château Cantenac Brown’s dry white wine, named in a nod to the musical world. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grow on clay-limestone plots chosen for white varieties, giving this Bordeaux Blanc a distinct identity within an estate celebrated for its Margaux reds.

Whats in the bottle
90% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Sémillon

Notable Awards
93 points, Falstaff

£35.95 - £35.95
£35.95
£35.95 - £35.95
£35.95
Make it a giftOptional gift bags and wooden boxes Choose +

Choose your packaging, then carry on shopping.

Choose your packaging
Availability:
In stock

Château Cantenac Brown stands in the heart of Margaux, its distinctive Tudor-style château reflecting the Scottish roots of founder John Lewis Brown. Classified as a Third Growth in 1855, the estate entered a new chapter when the Le Lous family acquired it in 2019, with Tristan Le Lous closely involved in its direction.
The vineyards encompass gravel soils on the Margaux and Cantenac plateaux, alongside clay-limestone plots planted with white varieties. This diversity allows the team to match grapes to individual sites, from Cabernet Sauvignon on gravel to Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon for Alto.
Estate manager José Sanfins, who joined Cantenac Brown in 1989, works alongside Tristan Le Lous with an emphasis on careful vineyard observation and precision in the cellar. Their environmental ambitions took tangible form in a new winery first used in 2023, built with raw earth and untreated wood to provide naturally stable conditions for ageing.

The 2023 blend comprises 90% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Sémillon. Both varieties were harvested in the mornings of 28 and 29 August, with grapes collected in crates to protect the fruit. A generally warm growing season, punctuated by humidity and localised storms, required attentive vineyard management.
Slow pressing under inert gas helped preserve the juice’s aromatic freshness. Press fractions were carefully separated, and fermentation took place entirely in barrels. Gentle, regular lees stirring contributed texture and depth.
Maturation took place in French oak barrels, with 10% new oak and 90% barrels previously used for one vintage. This restrained proportion of new wood supports the wine’s rounded texture while allowing its fruit and mineral character to remain prominent.
Alcohol: 13.5%. Recommended drinking window: 2025 to 2031.

Wine-Searcher Retailer Awards 2026/27 Gold, Overall List in Cardiff