Vieux Château Certan

Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol, 2017

Name: Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol
Brand: Vieux Château Certan
Price: 911.12 GBP

96/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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in bond

Broking

2017
6x75cl
DP
£911.12

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Alexandre Thienpont described 2017 as a normal growing season with no excess heat, drought and cool nights; he then quipped that they were half a degree from catastrophe at the end of April… Typically understated… A classic VCC with a beautifully polished fragrant profile. Produced from 81% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. As ever, the Cabernets add a wonderful florality to the bouquet. This is really brimming with noble Cabernet aromas of cassis, violets and minerals. The palate is plush and broad with a fleshiness to the fruit and crunchy black berries. We say it every year, but this is a jolly handsome Pomerol, a really coiffured, stylish example with effortless length and immaculately managed tannins. As with many of the best 2017s, there is this wonderful freshness (3.4pH) and an engaging salinity on the finish with makes the mouth water. Splendid!

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost 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

96/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2017 Vieux Château Certan was picked from September 12. This has a perfumed and quite floral bouquet with blackberries and violets. It shows lovely definition and mineralité, that hint of wild heather coming through but none of the previous menthol scents. The palate is exceptionally well-balanced with chiseled tannins, which are a perfect bead of acidity. I adore how this gathers momentum towards the lightly spiced, persistent finish. This shows better than when I tasted it just after bottling six years ago, hence my higher score. Tasted at the VCC vertical in Etikhove, Belgium.

drinking window 2027 - 2060

date of review 07/2024

product details

Specifications

Country:

Region:

Appellation:

Producer:

style:

Grape Variety:

Merlot Cabernet Franc

abv:

12.5%

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.