Vieux Château Certan 2016

The 2016 Vieux Château Certan is the first vintage to be entirely bottled by the estate’s own bottling machine (just in case that ever comes up in a wine quiz). Alexandre Thienpont mentioned that he assiduously left out the stressed vines, and he places this above his more hedonistic 2015. The wine takes a few minutes to open in the glass, but boy, is it worth the wait: it reveals pixelated red fruit (crushed strawberry and raspberry) and crushed stone, plus a hint of graphite emanating from the Cabernets. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, slightly chalky tannin that frames pure black and red fruit infused with graphite and almost flint-like notes. This is one of the most mineral-driven VCCs that I have encountered in over 20 years, with dizzying precision on the finish. A very intellectual Pomerol, in the realm of the profound. Drink 2024-2060

In 2016 it was extremely dry at Vieux Chateau Certan so they had to delay the harvest. They marked the vines on which the berries had dried and didn't harvest them. The blend in 2016 was 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It pops with scents of vibrant black plums, juicy blackberries and redcurrant jelly, leading to hints of licorice, wood smoke, crushed rocks, and violets, plus a hint of cumin seed. Full-bodied, rich and seductive, the palate has a firm frame of ripe, rounded tannins and seamless freshness supporting the dense, muscular fruit, finishing long. The fruit is so primary - it's in a time capsule. This was the first vintage bottled using their own bottling line.

Just as good, yet in a different style, the 2016 Vieux Château Certan shows cooler notes of crème de cassis, tobacco leaf, underbrush, graphite, violets, and crushed rocks. Deep, incredibly full-bodied and powerful, yet like the 2015, weightless and sensationally textured, it glides over the palate with no sensation of weight or heaviness. Expansive, deep, beautifully concentrated, and flawlessly constructed, it builds incrementally on the palate and has a finish that lasts for over a minute. It’s another legendary wine from this estate to enjoy over the coming 30-40 years. Drink 2019-2059.

The ripeness in this wine is incredibly balanced and perfect with plum and orange-peel character, buttressed by the ripe seeds of the grapes that give a hazelnut and coffee undertone. Turns to violets. Full body with firm and very sexy tannins that are perfectly balanced and polished. Some chocolate and dried black tea-leaf character in the aftertaste. Wonderful finish. Needs five to six years to soften, but already a joy to experience. Try after 2025.

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 Window 2027-2050

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.
Drink 2025-2045

Alexandre Thienpont has been making sensational VCCs for several years from the venerable old vines of this exceptionally well situated vineyard. The youngest Merlots were planted in 1959 and the youngest Cabernet Francs in 1948. This is one of the great properties of Pomerol and it normally has a high (for the appellation) percentage of Cabernet in the blend. 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon in the vineyard. Harvested over three stages from the beginning to the middle of October. The 2016 is a blend of 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon and Alexandre Thienpont thinks the 2016 is akin to 2010 in the sme way as 2015 is like 2009, but he believes the 2016 is better than any of those that preceded it. Perfumed on the nose with rose and violet layered by herbal thyme, cherry, plum and casssis notes. Firm with a graphite edge on the palate, the purity of cool, but rpe bramble fruit is framed by ripe, chalky-textured tannins that freshen the finish. Spicy toast and pepper notes linger in harmony with the fruit on a long finish.

Ripe black plums the nose is packed with sweet fruit the palate rich and ripe. The tannins are wrapped round with fruit the mid palate plush depth of flavour. Bramble and bilberry towards the back give freshness balance with the sweet rich fruit filling out the finish. 2027-46

“A 2010 plus,” is how Guillaume Thienpoint describes 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. 2026-40