Vieux Chateau Certan, Pomerol 2006

I love the texture here. This is really impressive for 2006, which is a good but not great vintage. Blackberries, dark chocolate, and lightly roasted oak. Full-bodied, yet holding back with great finesse and strength. Pull the cork in 2015.

Good full red-ruby. Very sexy aromas and flavors of black raspberry, blackberry, roasted coffee, violet and licorice. Lush, silky and highly concentrated, with an utterly seamless texture to the middle palate. Wonderfully, ripe, broad, merlot-based wine; solid as a rock but utterly pliant. Finishes with captivating lingering sweetness, the broad tannins completely buffered by the wine's ripe fruit. I sucked up my bottle of this elixir with great pleasure, but it has the stuffing for long aging.

The 2006 Vieux Château Certan has quite an "airy" and well-defined nose that seems to side with the Cabernet Franc/Sauvignon. Brambly red fruit intermingles with pencil lead and subtle slate aromas. The palate is medium-bodied and feels cohesive. Fine grip, quite sturdy with a dense finish, perhaps it has dispensed with some of the precision that it exuded in its youth. I came away asking: where will it go? Tasted at The Savoy Bordeaux 2006 dinner organized by Goedhuis.