Chateau Cantenac Brown in Margaux announced that it was releasing its 2008 wine at 18 euros ex chateau, a drop of just over 43% from last year.

Parker called it the best wine he has tasted from the property, so well done to them for not letting that go to their heads and raise, or even keep the prices the same as last year (step forward Chateau Clinet yesterday and La Gaffeliere today).

My review during the primeurs said:
Chateau Cantenac Brown, Margaux
Like the elegance on the nose and the lovely restrained but rich colour. Much better than many of the samples in this tasting – good weight of fruit but the lovely acidity makes it seem light. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot, and will spent its ageing in 60% new oak. One of the nicest so far. I have now tasted this twice, once at the chateau and once again during this blind tasting, and have been very impressed with each sample. They harvested from October 1 to 19. Now let’s see what they do with the price this year, as it has pretty much dropped off the radar due to its crazy pricing strategy. 92-94.

There are a lot of prices coming out this week after the Parker scores, and a few other interesting ones are Chateau Yquem down 59% at 160 euros, Chateau Figeac 35 euros (42 last year so down 16.67%). Overall, biggest price drops so far Lafite 45%, Margaux 45%, Mouton 50%, Latour 45%, Angelus 41.18%, Haut Brion approx 41%, La Conseillante 28.57% and now Cantenac Brown 43%.

Besides Clinet, others who have gone the wrong way are Chateau Larrivet Haut Brion Blanc 19.30 this year (up from 16.8 so 14.88% rise) and Chateau Forcas Hosten (very unfortunate for them as they brought their price out last week and then got a very low Parker score of 79-81...)