Vieux Chateau Certan, Pomerol 2024

A really classic VCC with such delicious, crunchy fruit, showing blackberries, blueberries, violets and dried spices. Medium-bodied, vivid and lively, it has very fine tannins as well as energy and brilliance. So balanced and harmonious. A blend of 71% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 9% cabernet sauvignon.

The 2024 Vieux Château Certan contains a higher proportion of Cabernet this year (23% Sauvignon and Franc combined) that was picked at 30 hl/ha between September 20 to October 2. That Cabernet is articulated on the nose: graphite and light tobacco scents percolating through the mainly black fruit. This has plenty of freshness and more fruit than some other Pomerol cuvées. The palate is medium-bodied, but there is much more weight and density on the back palate than nearly all of its peers. Distinctly peppery and quite spicy in style, this is one of the few to transcend the strict limitations of the growing season. In some ways, it is an uncompromising VCC that does not have the finesse of the greatest vintages I have tasted over the years, yet there is flavour and substance packed inside this nascent wine. Deeply impressive. This is one of the very few '24s that will oblige bottle age.

Beautiful perfume and aromatic intensity on the nose. Such pristine aromatics. Clean blue fruits and soft saltiness. Bright and shiny straight away, a cool and crisp aspect to the fruit, you can feel the Cabernet density in terms of tannins, they fill the mouth with a crunchy and softly chalky texture with cherry and plum fruit aspects. It loses a little thrust, just softening towards the finish, but this has structure and concentration to the fruit. This has muscle, and a quiet confidence. Super elegant and a different touch than many in Pomerol. 3.70pH. A yield of 30hl/ha. And more Cabernet than usual at 9% instead of 5%.

Violet ruby with a vibrant rim, reflects the savoury vivid quality of the vintage in the wines that deliver. Clear chamomile tea, fragrant white blossom, redcurrant, blueberry, a touch of austerity and reserve compared to the past few vintages, but with purity and finesse, mouthwatering finish, 30hl/h yield, 3.7ph, harvest 20 September to 2 October. 3.70 pH, and a high Cabernet character in the final blend (despite one block less of Cabernet Franc after replanting), 66% new oak. An enjoyable wine from Alexandre Thienpont.

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2024 Vieux Château Certan is based on 71% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon from vines planted in 2012, and is aging in 66% new barrels. Yields were just 30 hectoliters per hectare. It offers a rare sense of purity and finesse alongside real intensity, with ripe red and black fruits, leafy flowers, spice, and damp earth all emerging on the nose. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has a pure, seamless, and incredibly elegant mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. The 2024 checks in at 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.7.

Deep garnet-purple colored. Swans out of the glass with gregarious notes of Morello cherries, juicy blackberries, and fresh raspberries, plus hints of lilac, pencil lead, and mossy tree bark. The medium-bodied palate delivers a sturdy structure of ripe, rounded tannins with seamless freshness and bags of red and black berry flavors, finishing with great length and plenty of minerally sparks.

The 2024 Vieux Château Certan is a delicate, elegant wine driven by its strong floral component from the significant presence of Cabernets in the blend this year. Silky tannins add to an impression of restraint. I can't remember tasting a young VCC with this equilibrium, one that approaches a Burgundian textural feel, for lack of a better word. The 2024 opens with a bit of time in the glass, but it is a decidedly understated, calm VCC. I can't wait to see how it ages.

A blend of 71% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2024 Vieux Château Certan opens in the glass with brooding aromas of dark berries, cedar, cigar wrapper, crushed mint and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, with good density for the vintage and sweet structuring tannins, it concludes with a sapid, slightly earthy finish. Yields after annual sorting came in at 30 hectoliters per hectare, and the wine is being matured in two-thirds new barriques.