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Reviews

100 -Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2019 Vieux Château Certan unfurls in the glass with a striking bouquet of cassis and cherries mingled with notions of violets, loamy soil, sweet spices and incense. Full-bodied, ample and layered, it's seamless and enveloping, with a fleshy core of beautifully vibrant fruit, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins. Concluding with a long, resonant finish, this perfumed, sensual Vieux Château Certan is a remarkable achievement from Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont.

99 -The Wine Independent -

The 2019 Vieux Chateau Certan, composed of 78% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, is deep garnet-purple in color. Quite closed to start, it slowly reveals hints of plum pudding, blackberry preserves, and boysenberries with suggestions of Indian spices, mocha, and black olives. The full-bodied palate is fantastically layered, rich, and hedonic, with velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and decadent.

99 -Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider -

There is no hotter wine these days in Pomerol than Vieux Chateau Certan. Since 2009, vintage after vintage has been extraordinary and 2019 continues its hot streak! The first thing you notice is the perfume, which is just like walking into a flower store with rows of roses, violets, and lilies along with forest greenery, spice box, plum liqueur, black cherry, truffle, and dark chocolate scents come alive. But it is on the palate that leaves you wanting more, due to non-stop waves of perfectly ripe, black cherries, plums, blackberries, and blue fruit which feel like each berry was hand-polished with a velvet cloth. The seamless finish delivers cashmere textures for more than 60 seconds! You can drink this relatively young for its hedonistic thrill-ride, or age it for additional complexities. Either way, this is a future legend! Drink from 2026-2060. 99 Points

98+ -Jeb Dunnuck -

A wine I wasn't able to taste from barrel, the 2019 Vieux Château Certan is an awesome expression of Merlot that's as singular as they come. Revealing a deep purple hue as well as a prodigious, deep, layered bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherries, tobacco leaf, cedar pencil, and sappy spring flowers, it hits the palate with a full-bodied, multi-dimensional texture, a great mid-palate, no hard edges, perfectly integrated acidity, and a blockbuster of a finish. It shows the more ethereal, nuanced, elegant style of the vintage, both in its aromatics as well as on the palate, but it has classic Vieux Château Certan opulence and power. This heavenly wine is clearly in the same ballpark as the 2015, 2016, and 2018 and will probably merit a triple-digit rating at maturity. A decade of cellaring is advised, and it should be a 40-, 50-, if not 60-year wine.

98 -Decanter -

This is glorious. Damsons and sloes, black and red cherries, violets, dried petals and saffron, cumin and curry leaf too – and then cedar and graphite from the Cabernet. Cool and fresh, lifted with cashmere tannins and a plunge-pool depth and elegance. Wonderfully harmonious, it flows across the palate in the most luxuriant way. The latest in a succession of great wines from VCC and probably the best of them all.

98 -Vinous -

The 2019 Vieux Château Certan was picked from September 23 after light showers the previous day. We dared to add some Cabernet Sauvignon in 2019, which gives complexity, Alexandre Thienpont remarks, but the Cabernet was 'killed' in 2020. It has a much more discrete bouquet than the 2018, unfolding with truffle-tinged black fruit. There are fewer marmalade scents than I noticed a couple of years ago, but there is absolutely stunning delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins, like a cousin of the superlative 2016 in many ways, but it may be silkier towards the finish. Elegant yet paradoxically intense, this is VCC at full flight. And it's only on its opening pages! Tasted at the VCC vertical in Etikhove, Belgium.

98 -James Suckling -

Super-restrained and dark, concentrated blackcurrant on the nose, together with subtle licorice root, eucalyptus leaf and vibrant, earthy minerality. The rather austere character on the nose suggests a classy wine. The palate shows bright dark fruits with dense, ripe, large-grained and chewy tannins. Yet, super-refreshing and balancing acidity drives through the finish. Good, toasty and chocolatey aftertaste. All you expect from a top-class, young Pomerol. Best after 2035.

97 -Wine Spectator -

Allows glorious plum sauce, boysenberry puree and black cherry compote flavors to unfurl over a bed of velvety tannins, while subtle black tea, violet, alder and sweet tobacco notes flirt in the background. The finish is underscored by a subtle warm earth note, which adds latent length. A beauty. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2025 through 2040. 3,916 cases made.

97 -Jane Anson -

The tannins are firm and strict, keeping the dark fruits carefully in line. Tons of liquorice and slate, with a beautifully fragrant edge of violets, peonies, smoke. It has the kind of austerity that makes you happy to be patient, hiding layers and layers of nuance, with the sleight of hand between density and lightness, so it rises and falls, breathing through your palate, stretching its limbs. A delicious and beautifully classical expression, intellectual also, finishing with oyster shell salinity. 70% new oak, 40hl/h yield, harvest September 23 to October 3.

Technical Details

Blend 78% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker Alexandre & Guillaume Thienpont
Country France
Region Bordeaux
Sub Region Right Bank
Appellation Pomerol
Vineyard Estate Vineyards of Vieux Château Certan
Farming Method Sustainable Practices
Oak 50% new French oak
Fermentation Vinified separately by varietal in oak vats
Aging / Cooperage 18-22 months
Alcohol 13.9%
Production 3,916 cases

Vieux Château Certan Pomerol 2019

Name: Vieux Château Certan Pomerol 2019
Brand: First Bottle
SKU: 1014659
Price: 289.0 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

Bordeaux Blends | Bordeaux

WA100, TWI99, JL99, JD98+, DC98, VN98, JS98, WS97, JA97

SPECIAL: Ground shipping included on 2+ bottles!

Sustainable Practices

$500.00

$289.00

750ML

42% OFF RETAIL!

100-point Pomerol! Vieux Château Certan sits at the very top of the Pomerol plateau, quite literally next door to Pétrus, and it's one of the appellation's oldest and most storied properties. The estate has been producing wine since at least the mid-1740s, appearing on the 1785 Belleyme Map as "Sertan" under the ownership of the Demay family, established Bordeaux négociants.

The chapter that defines it today, though, began in 1924, when Josephine Billiet asked her husband, the Belgian wine merchant Georges Thienpont, if she could use her own money to buy the estate, and the Thienpont family has held it ever since. Stewardship has passed from Georges to his son Léon, then to Alexandre Thienpont, and now to Alexandre's son Guillaume, who vinifies the wine today. A charming detail from that early era is that Georges introduced the distinctive pink capsule over the cork, which beyond looking chic served a practical purpose – it let him spot at a glance whether his wine was in a client's cellar. One thing that sets VCC apart from its neighbors is its blend, as it carries far more Cabernet Franc, and a meaningful amount of Cabernet Sauvignon, than is typical for Merlot-dominated Pomerol.

As for the 2019 itself – a blend of roughly 78% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon – it's widely regarded as one of the top wines of a great vintage. It opens with a striking bouquet of cassis and cherries woven with violets, loamy soil, sweet spices, and incense. On the palate it's full-bodied, layered, and enveloping, with a fleshy core of vibrant fruit, lively acidity, and ripe, powdery tannins, closing on a long and resonant finish – a perfumed, sensual achievement from Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont. A stack of wildly adoring scores – including a very worthy 100 points from Wine Advocate – grants this wine even more prestige.

Only a couple cases to share, though, so do your best to make at least one bottle yours for the keeping!

About The Producer

Vieux Chateau Certan occupies one of the most coveted plots on the Pomerol plateau, situated on the high gravel terrace directly alongside Petrus. The estate's history stretches back to the sixteenth century, when it was the dominant property in the region, and the name itself reflects its age: Certan was once a single vast estate that was eventually subdivided, leaving Vieux Chateau Certan as the original mother property. The Thienpont family, who also own Le Pin, acquired the estate in 1924 and have never looked elsewhere. Today Alexandre Thienpont, who took over winemaking in 1985, oversees every aspect of the fourteen-hectare estate with a philosophy rooted in patience and restraint. Unlike many of its neighbors, Vieux Chateau Certan blends a higher proportion of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon alongside Merlot, giving the wines a structural complexity and aromatic elegance that sets them apart on the Pomerol plateau. The domaine consistently earns scores in the mid to upper nineties from the world's top critics and is widely considered among the very finest estates on the Right Bank. Both the 2017 and 2019 vintages are exceptional expressions of what this address is capable of.

$500.00

$289.00

750ML

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