0

2015 Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol, Bordeaux

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Merlot
Not ready
Jancis Robinson MW
18.5/20
James Lawther MW
97/100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW
98+/100
James Suckling
98-99/100
Product: 20151016082
2015 Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol, Bordeaux

Description

Alexandre Thienpont has succeeded in creating a terrific wine again in 2015. Fabulously elegant, it is almost Burgundian in style and finesse. This is pure, focused and graceful: a wonderful success.

Real acidity provides freshness and a lovely texture. It is really polished. An underlying core of some depth, but the wine is very light in its feet. Very clean and precise, it is soft, light and beautifully spicy. There is so much complexity on the palate, yet the flavours are so refined. The wine has real length, but everything is understated and elegant.

Blend: 80% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2015
Maturity Not ready
Grape List Merlot
Body Full Bodied
Producer Vieux Château Certan

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW 18.5/20
Very intense nose with strong mineral notes - lots of Cabernet Franc influence. Massive impact with really luscious ripe fruit but massive tannins too. Very satiny initially but underneath there is massive tannin. Lovely fragrant top note. Beautifully married. Very sophisticated and with many layers. All vineyard not winemaking. Very savoury - very unlike Merlot stereotype. Drink 2025-2045 jancis_robinson_mw MW - JancisRobinson.com - Apr 2016
Drink 2025 - 2045
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
James Lawther MW 97/100
This is a really complete wine with aromatic complexity, ripe fruit, beautifully suave texture and freshness and persistence on the finish. The tannins are abundant but fine, allowing the wine to build majestically on the palate. Harmonious as well. ‘It’s like 2010 with more Cabernet Franc (19%),’ says Alexandre Thienpont. Drink: 2025-2045 james_lawther MW - decanter.com - April 2016
Drink 2025 - 2045
James Lawther MW, Decanter.com (Apr 2016)
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW 98+/100
Blended of 80% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Vieux Chateau Certan opens with profound notes of blueberry compote, dried mulberries, black forest cake, licorice, violets and garrigue with wafts of black truffles, sandalwood and rose hips. Medium to full-bodied, very earthy/savory and beautifully layered with very plush yet present tannins, it offers lovely freshness and a very long minerally finish. So very Pomerol!Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 27/04/2018
Drink 2025 - 2045
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, RobertParker.com (Apr 2018)
James Suckling 98-99/100
A powerful and rich wine with super concentration and length. Deep and very rich. Glorious blackberry and black chocolate. Full and super velvety. A creamy texture of stone, chalk and lemon rind from the tannins and acidity. Wow. Loving it. The caressing character is so memorable. james_suckling - jamessuckling_com - Apr 2016
Drink 2025 - 2045
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (Apr 2016)

About this wine

Merlot

The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
Find out more

Vieux Chateau Certan

The Vieux Château Certan estate, which in 1745 already figured on Bellayme's famous map under the name of  "Sertan", is located in the heart of the Pomerol plateau. Covering 14 hectares (35 acres) in one single block, the Vieux Château Certan vineyard is the fruit of a century of painstaking work and careful decision-making. The estate vineyard is today made up of 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.This varietal mix enables the best possible balance to be sought in each vintage between the Merlot and the Cabernet Franc. The latter performs exceptionally well in this terroir and reaches perfect ripness levels. The grapes are picked by hand and sorted meticulously at the end of each row of wines. After a gentle crushing they are put into oak vats, by variety. Those vats destined to make up the blend of the Grand Vin are run off into 100 % new French oak barrels and aged for 18 to 22 months. Vieux Château Certan is regularly ranked by the world's press and international tasting panels among the very top wines.
Find out more

Need help?

Delivery and Quality Guarantee