Vieux Chateau Certan Vieux Château Certan

This wine was drunk blind today against a 2020 Mouton Rothschild, and a 2020 Ducru Beaucaillou. It was decanted through a venturi, and now I'm scoring it six hours later. This one was easily the best. Neal Martin gave it 100 points. It's just loaded with flavors, big and elegant at the same time. It certainly needs decades to reach its peak, but I enjoyed it so much today. It's a perfect wine if you like it young or want …

PNP, but should have decanted for 3 hours. Dark and brooding, nose shows truffle, plum and espresso. Deep and full bodied palate, fleshy mouthfeel with sweet black fruit finishing with crunchy and drying tannins.

Decanted for 3 hours, followed for the next 5 hours or so. The wine is very well made, elegant, earthy, minimal fruit, very old school Bordeaux. 14.5%alc but cannot detect even a hint of alc. Can see it going up by a lot in a few years.

10 Vintages of Vieux Chateau Certan : All wines were tasted blind, head-to-head with Figeac from the same vintages, no decanting. A few observations: 1) VCC brings rich, complex wines, driven by red fruits and floral notes, with superb tannins and a solid acidity backbone. 2) The older vintages (98, 05, 09) were all about elegance - balanced and without excess. 3) The younger ones (15, 16, 18, 19, 20) were tight, not fully open, and really needed 2-4 hours …

95-96

Chateau Figeac vs. Vieux Chateau Certan - 10y comparison blind : The nose presents Rum pot aromas, with rich, ripe fruit and a hint of alcoholic heat. On the palate, there is a cooked raspberry jam quality that adds sweetness but also a sense of heaviness, which detracts from the quality.

Figeac vs VCC double-vertical (Fribourg) : Red cherry fruit with accents of raspberry and blueberries. Somewhat closed, but still shows floral top notes. The balance came across somewhat wobbly, piercing acidity in the finish while mid-palate was dominated by grippy tannin.

Deeply colored and perfumed, the 2020 VCC offers an amazing blend of aromas: sweet crème de cassis, mocha, tar, and just a hint of muddled peppermint. Rich and long, the palate showcases sweetly ripe fruit in velvety tannins. Outstanding, with a great future… my score reflects the wine today but this could certainly merit 97-99 at maturity. As a side remark, this is a very Californian (Napa) style of Bordeaux and reminds me of the 2010 Abreu Thorevilos Cabernet.

Great right from the start but better with several hours air. Very dense and luxurious on the palate. Plums, dark chocolate, dried herbs, minerals, cassis…. Perfect balance. Long haul wine but approachable now.

The temptation to pull corks overcame me when some of my 2020 EP purchases arrived. I opened this from 750 along side a 2020 La Conseillante. Both consumed over two days. When tasted along side La Conseillante it's easy to come to the conclusion Pomerol produced some incredible wines in 2020. Power, structure and finesse are all terms that come to mind. Very early to be opening these wines especially the VCC as it was the more unforgiving of the …

An extraordinary effort, the wine is almost opaque in color. The haunting perfume offers a bouquet of flowers, black, red and blue fruits, chocolate, spice, espresso and hints of truffles on the nose. Incredibly concentrated, but equally light on its feet, the wine is effortless to taste. With polished, velvet textures and fruits that express purity coupled with spice, chocolate, wet earth and sensuality, the finish crosses the 60 second mark and keeps on going! This is a youthful look …

2021 Bordeaux Tasting Trip; 7/12/2021-7/16/2021 (Bordeaux) : A tasting in Bordeaux of 71 wines, some of the best I have ever had and others, umm, well were disappointing. If you read the Tasting story (and my grading history) I think it will do a much better job putting this in perspective. Vieux Chateau Certan is not a Trophy wine that Americans buy to throw their junk on a table and show off (crude I know but reality), it’s a wine …

Very great wine

Inky dark in color, it takes no time to discover the truffle, violets, black plum liqueur, Valrhona chocolate, spice, espresso bean, black raspberry and hints of blue fruit on the nose. Full-bodied, and incredibly concentrated, the wine feels like polished velvet as it caresses your palate. Dense, rich and powerful, yet weightless, balanced and fresh, the finish crosses the 60 second mark and keeps on going! The level of purity, concentration and depth of flavor here is matched by its …