VIEUX CHÂTEAU CERTAN

I have been fortunate to follow the 2016 Vieux Château Certan almost from the beginning, starting with a tasting of several lots from barrel in early January 2017, in which Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont showed me the wines in a sequence arranged by the year of planting of various parcels. Even then, it was clear, the 2016 had the potential to be a majestic wine. Now, from bottle, it is every bit as captivating as early tastings suggested it would be. Sweet red/purplish berry fruit, lavender, rose petal and spice infuse this exquisitely beautiful, layered Pomerol. Alexandre Thienpont adds that the harvest was saved by September rains that gave the parched vines just enough water to restore some of the balance that had been lost earlier in the season. Put simply, the 2016 VCC has it all. Drinking range: 2026 - 2066 Rating: 100 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jan 2019)

The 2016 Vieux Chateau Certan is a blend of 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon that was picked at 40.50 hectoliters per hectare, in three stages of picking: 3-7, 10-11 and 17-18 October. It has a high IPT of 82 and a pH of 3.77. It has a very refined bouquet with blackberry, briary and morello cherries that are tightly wound at first, but open gradually with aeration. The Merlot is fully in control aromatically; this is not a VCC governed by the Cabernet Franc this year, consistent with the 2016 vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin. There is plenty of dark berry fruit laced with hints of earl grey and bay leaf, a complex and cerebral Pomerol with a long, precise and (to put it banally) delicious finish. This is another outstanding wine from Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont. Drinking range: 2022 - 2060 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)

Sumptuous nose. Great lift. Real race and dancing stuff. Good structure and line. Nothing sweet or fleshy about this but lovely ripeness and nobility. Amazing persistence and elegance in claret mode. Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 19 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)

The balance and finesse to this wine are really beautiful with ultra-fine tannins and beautiful fruit. It’s full and structured yet so long and intense. It’s a wine that seduces you with every sip — already. Great selection here. Quite simply turbocharged at the end. Rating: 98-99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)

This is a muscular, big wine, more so than in some years, but it is so precise and intellectual, and one of the more austere takes on the vintage at this early stage. The 2015 was more of a crowd-pleaser perhaps, but this has such a gripping, thrilling sense of well drawn out fruit wrapped up in fresh, floral layers. The tannins have an IPT of 82, but are extremely ripe, totally delicious and beautifully constructed. They found more difference between young and old vines compared to the previous year, because of the stress in the summer, so 66% of production made it into the grand vin compared to 75% in 2015. 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. Drinking range: 2027 - 2050 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)

The 2016 Vieux Château Certan is a wine of extraordinary beauty. Rich, seamless and voluptuous in the glass, it exudes sensuality in all of its dimensions. Tasted as a hypothetical blend, the 2016 is less expressive than the separate lots were when I tasted them a few months ago. A rush of dark cherry, inky blue/purplish fruit, crushed rocks, lavender and rose petal infuses the creamy, voluptuous finish. The 2016 manages to be dense and rich, but with no excess weight. It is quite simply a remarkable wine. Rating: 97-100 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)

“A 2010 plus,” is how Guillaume Thienpoint escribes this powerful, rich, dense VCC, made with slightly less Cabernet Franc than usual because of the summer heat wave. Bold, grassy and plush, with masses of underpinning tannin and satanic, dark berry fruit. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 96 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)

The 2016 Vieux Château Certan has a perfumed, floral bouquet of red fruit infused with violet and incense; hints of iodine and seaweed emerge with time. This is certainly very complex, bordering on profound. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and layers of red fruit laced with cedar and desiccated orange peel, leading to a persistent and utterly spellbinding finish. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2024 - 2060 Rating: 99 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 1899)