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Vieux Château Certan 2004

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > Pomerol
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyMerlot/Cabernet Franc

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Label

Tasting Notes

This stunning blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc boasts a dense ruby/purple color along with a big, sweet bouquet of black cherries, licorice, roasted herbs, smoke, and cassis. Elegant, medium to full-bodied, pure flavors reveal moderately high tannin, but superb concentration and richness. Vieux Chateau Certan should be one of the longer-lived and most complex wines of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025.

93
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (171), June 2007

Fabulous aromas of crushed berries, vanilla and chocolate, with pure fruit. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a long caressing finish. All in the texture. A gorgeous and seductive young wine. This is 25% Cabernet Franc (its normally 15%). Best after 2009

94
James Suckling, WineSpectator.com, January 2007

Without doubt one of the stars of the vintage, a dazzling return to form after last year's rather soupy effort. Intensely, electrically lively nose plus a palate laced with really rich, mouth-filling fruit and the structure drawing it all together. Seriously tensile yet with lots of ripe fruit. Dense and wonderfully lively. The only slight reproach is that, like virtually all 2004s, it is not spectacularly persistent. Drink 2013-28

18.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (April 05), April 2005
94
Farr Vintners, Southwold Bordeaux Tasting, January 2008
Read more tasting notes...

Made from an unusual blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, this is a powerful yet classic effort for the vintage. Its dark plum/ruby color is accompanied by sweet scents of melted licorice, Provencal herbs, black currants, cherries, incense, and subtle new oak. Medium-bodied with good underlying acidity, a noble character, and an elegant, long, moderately tannic, complex finish, it should be at its finest between 2010-2020.

92/94
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (165), June 2006

Proprietor Alexandre Thienpont believes the 2004 Vieux Chateau Certan resembles the 1988. A blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, it is a classically-styled, dark plum/purple-hued effort exhibiting sweet scents of black cherries, plums, truffles, licorice, and herbs. With good acidity, a broad, medium-bodied attack, and excellent ripeness as well as purity, this complex, racy claret should be consumed between 2007-2018.

90/93
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (158), April 2005

This is pure cashmere on the palate. Full-bodied, with incredibly long, silky tannins. An absolute joy to taste. In fact, it is amazing for the vintage. Seductive with a capital "S." This evokes the excellent 2000. The Cabernet Franc made this wine magic. One of the greatest young Vieux-Château-Certans I have ever tasted.

95/100
James Suckling, Wine Spectator (April 05), April 2005
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.