Bordeaux 2013 Primeurs: Vieux Château Certan
I visited Vieux Château Certan this year despite some rumours that the wine would not be poured; that was the result of confusion I think, after Alexandre Thienpont seemed to have indicated that he wouldn’t be offering the wine for sale en primeur. It is an easy decision for me; the primeur tastings are about understanding and reporting on the vintage, not just lists of notes and scores (is there anything more boring?), and so I called upon the Thienponts to taste the wine. If I had time, I would have also called upon Alexandre’s cousin Jacques Thienpont at Le Pin; even without wine to taste, it would still have been informative to hear about the vintage. Unfortunately, time was too tight this year (I’m still struggling with my organisation of my two days on the right bank), and I sacrificed my usual visit to Le Pin. Let’s hope they let me back in next year!
Guillaume Thienpont (pictured) was my host for the tasting, and his account of the vintage was by now familiar; a wet and cool spring, a fine summer, and then high humidity levels as the growing season drew to an end. Guillaume described humidity levels as high as 90%, and as he did so I was reminded of my trip to Bordeaux in October 2013, a week or two after most of the picking had finished. On my second day I was on the right bank, and I had stopped in between appointments to take a few photographs of the new château at Petrus, which was nearing completion. It had been pouring with rain during the morning, but the sky had now cleared, and the sun was now beating down on the wet ground. The humidity I sensed as I tumbled out of my hire car was stifling, at a level I don’t recall experiencing before. I would not be surprised if it were 90%. When I mentioned this later to Olivier Berrouet at Petrus he explained that had been the problem during the harvest; rain, then beating sunshine, in a series of repeated cycles. No wonder the botrytis had hit so hard and so swift.
Please log in to continue reading: