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Vieux Château Certan 2004

After last week’s Cabernet Franc, more of the same for this week’s Weekend Wine. Admittedly, blended with more than a splash of Merlot.

Rather as Couly-Dutheil was my introduction to Chinon, I was lucky enough to be introduced to Pomerol via the medium of Vieux Château Certan. During my early wine explorations, more than a few decades ago, I joined a tasting group. The focus was Bordeaux, and largely left-bank Bordeaux at that, but we did make the occasional foray into the foreign and exotic world (well, that’s how this group regarded it) of Pomerol and St Emilion. One evening we sat down to a vertical of Vieux Château Certan, or VCC as it is known colloquially (even by its proprietors, Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont, which surely legitimises the use of the abbreviated name).

The effect was instantaneous. I was hooked.

In the years that have since passed I have bought and drank more bottles of VCC than I care to remember, and following on from last week’s exposé on which left-bank châteaux rule in my cellar (if your memory fails you, it was Montrose, Léoville-Barton and Cantemerle, not necessarily in that order), I am afraid there are no prizes on offer for guessing which Pomerol château dominates.

Enter, stage right, Vieux Château Certan.

In this case, the 2004 vintage.

Vieux Château Certan 2004

It seems appropriate to come to the 2004 vintage so soon after my return to the 1994 Léoville-Barton, and after my recent trip to Bordeaux to taste the 2024 vintage from barrel. Not one of this trio of vintages would be described by anyone as ‘great’, although as is the case in many such (easily overlooked) vintages they all have something to offer. And, sticking with the theme, I would certainly throw the 2014 vintage in with this trio. Is there something about the number 4 in Bordeaux? When was there last a really strong vintage ending in 4? The best candidates are probably 1934, a generous harvest of good quality which in many cases is still drinking well, as proven by several encounters with the red and sweet wines during the past couple of years. And there is also 1924, not the most renowned vintage of that decade, but one which has also turned out to have considerable staying power. More recent vintages, however, have been less than convincing (I have all my fingers and toes crossed for 2034, though).

But I digress.

The 2004 vintage was destined from the outset to be a challenge. Cold weather in spring (now a distant memory with Bordeaux’s still-warming climate) retarded the budbreak, and the vintage got off to a late start. This meant a late harvest, increasing the risk of end-of-season problems. After low yields in 2002 and 2003 the vines were also in a productive mood, resulting in a bountiful crop, requiring plenty of bud-rubbing, bunch-thinning and green-harvesting. Summer was not exactly tropical, although the fruit eventually ripened with the arrival of warm weather late in the season. The end result was the latest harvest since 1988, and uneven quality, especially from those who did not work to control their yields.

One thing you can rely on the Thienponts for, however, is top-notch vineyard husbandry, and that shows through in the quality achieved in the 2004 Vieux Château Certan. In the glass it shows, at twenty years of age, a matt plum-coloured core, with a little dusty fade to pink around the rim. The nose is a charmer, with fresh and perfumed notes of lavender and violets, as well as darker veins of blackcurrant, black olive, pepper and black liquorice, all tinged with mint. The palate starts off slow, with a very reserved texture, savoury and linear, albeit with a nice sense of granular energy. There is evident freshness and poise, although only modest complexity, the structure mostly resolved, with just a deeply embedded thread of powdered tannins. It is dry, savoury, lightly bitter and tinged with floral elements, with a fresh and sweet grain to the length, where it reveals a residual tannic frame. This is a charmer which can be drunk now, but which will surely develop further on this structure. 94/100 (16/6/25)

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