2022 Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol, Bordeaux

75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cask sample.

Powerful but elegant at the same time. Floral notes with a hint of violet. Enticing, juicy extract and tannins that are present but plush and smooth. Long and well balanced with grip on the finish.

Drink 2032 - 2050

35hl/h yield. 65% new oak. Oldest vines date back to 1958. 75% new oak.

Firm tannic frame, with ink, graphite, violet flowers and, red roses, even hints of black truffles at this young age, a sign of the exuberance of the vintage and one that will no doubt increase with age. A little less Cabernet Franc in the blend than usual because they have one plot uprooted right now. The aromatics are exploding, but things are more serious on the palate, with grip and austerity, and it will need a good eight to ten years in bottle to soften. Beautiful nutmeg and clove spice with a mouthwatering finish.

Drink 2030 - 2050

The 2022 Vieux Château Certan was picked between 6 and 21 September at 35hL/ha and matured in two-thirds new oak. Alexandre Thienpont thinks it combines the 2019 and 2020 and said that the Cabernet Sauvignon, from younger vines, lowered the alcohol 14.4%) and lent perfume. The aromatics are spellbinding, with brilliant delineation and a surfeit of freshness—Blackberry, briary, crushed stone and light iris flower scents, vivacious and so energetic.

The palate is medium-bodied with fine, very supple tannins and lashings of cracked black pepper, pencil box and tobacco infusing the black fruit. As Thienpont said, persistent on the finish and gently lacquering the vines. The Cabernet is very expressive this year, and so while it is a real Left Bank/Right Bank hybrid, it is, at the same time, quintessentially Pomerol. Chapeau Alexandre et Guillaume Thienpont.

Drink 2032 - 2075

A blend of 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon very similar to the 2019), the 2022 Vieux Château Certan is a magical wine of exemplary harmony and balance. Offering up complex aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with notions of exotic spices, liquorice, iris, violets and loamy soil, it’s full-bodied, supple and seamless, sweet structuring tannins entirely concealed by a multidimensional core of pure, vibrant fruit. This sensual, perfumed Pomerol is likely to rank alongside the 2019 and 2016 in the pantheon of recent Vieux Château Certan vintages.

One of the wines of the vintage, without a doubt, the 2022 Vieux Château Certan comes from healthy yields of 38 hectoliters per hectare and is 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Jaw-droppingly good in every sense, its deep purple hue is followed by a massive array of black cherries, violets, red plums, chocolate, and violets. This carries to a full-bodied Pomerol with a voluptuously layered mouthfeel, perfect tannins, and a great, great finish. 

I never find Vieux Château Certan to have the overt power and structure of Petrus or the feminine elegance of Conseillante, but it’s unrivalled in its texture, seamlessness, and purity. If this doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will. And I’ll be a buyer.

The freshness and dynamic sense of the wine are so surprising. Minerally and salty. It's full yet racy. Black ink and oyster shell. Excellent length.

3.78pH. A yield of 35hl/ha.

Great expressiveness on the nose; perfumed blackcurrants, black cherries, strawberries, notes of dark chocolate, graphite and liquorice - smells serious. Supple and taught on the palate but with a really juicy core that gives life and energy. Tannins are excellent, giving weight and texture - a combination of chewy and fleshy but with a crushed stone and spiced edge.

Lively, bright, intense, concentrated and suave. It’s rich, broad, muscular, complex and nuanced but at the same time stylish with lots of life, balance and freshness. This leaves the most gorgeous lingering expression and a sense that it will be both extremely accessible in its youth and have great ageing potential.

Drink 2027 - 2050

The 2022 Vieux Château Certan is a wine of tremendous sophistication and polish. I expected a more opulent VCC, but the 2022 is surprisingly delicate and nuanced. The blend is 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, which means all the Cabernets at the château were used in Grand Vin. Perhaps that explains the wine’s construction, favouring length, persistence and aromatics more than size. Crème de cassis, lavender, spice, and liquorice hints linger on the super-expressive finish.

There’s really not much more to say except that the 2022 is magical. “Real heat started in June,” explained Alexandre Thienpont. “We had 15mm of rain over two days in mid-August that really helped. Even so, yields were 35 hectoliters per hectare, lower than 2020. Berries weighed less than a gram, and juice yields were low.”

Drink 2032 - 2062