Château Certan de May

Château Certan De May, Pomerol, 2016

Name: Château Certan De May, Pomerol
Brand: Château Certan de May
Price: 1178.46 GBP

88/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

Broking

2016
12x75cl
DP
£1,178.46

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

We wondered whether the 2015 Certan de May was the best ever. Well we prefer the 2016... Jean-Claude Berrouet, the former wine-maker at Petrus has been consulting here for a few years and the change of style is really taking effect. The 2016 is less exotic and confused and is more focussed, more classical and altogether more alluring. It is stricter and finer than the opulent 2015. Pure alpine strawberries, spicy, intoxicating crème de mûre. This is much more red fruited than normal, a touch confected, but pure and more authentic with a tobacco and tea leaf finish which is surprisingly persistent. 65% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

88/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2016 Certan de May was disappointingly skinny when I tasted it from barrel. It has put on weight during its élevage, as one expects, but trust me, this is not up there with the greatest wines from Certan de May. The bouquet is pleasant but does not go that extra mile, coming across a little green around the edges and missing some vigor. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, quite supple tannins and well-judged acidity. I appreciate the freshness here, but this does not deliver the complexity or terroir expression of the best vintages, or even some of its great successes in the 2000s. I know this Pomerol can do better.

drinking window 2021 - 2035

date of review 01/2019

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

Pomerol

Producer:

Château Certan de May

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Merlot Cabernet Franc

abv:

13%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.