Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: Vieux Château Certan
If a visit to Château Lafleur is always educational, then one to Vieux Château Certan – especially during the primeurs – is always informative. Proprietor Alexandre Thienpont, who also looks after the vineyard at Le Pin, is king of the vintage comparison.
What’s the 2011 vintage like Alexandre?
“Oh, it’s a little like 2000, but with more density”.
What about the 2010 vintage?
“Oh, it’s a small-volume vintage dominated by Merlot; it reminds me of 1950 most of all”.
And what about the 2014 vintage then?
Silence.
Alexandre’s lack of a quick response was telling. There is no vintage that makes for a good comparison with 2014. That is not to say that the vintage is above being picked apart, just that there is no other year with a growing season that featured such despair, only to be saved by a six-week Indian summer. And there is no other vintage that manages to combine ripe fruit flavours, as we mostly (not entirely, especially where Merlot is concerned) have in 2014, and phenolic ripeness (in the Cabernets, again some Merlot feels less convincing), hallmarks of a warm vintage, with the leaner textures and prominent acidities of a cooler vintage. It is a unique year.
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