Vieux Château Certan

Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol, 2019

Name: Vieux Château Certan, Pomerol
Brand: Vieux Château Certan
Price: 2746.25 GBP

97/100

Inside Bordeaux

99/100

The Wine Independent

98/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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in bond

Broking

2019
6x75cl
DP
£1,367.12
2019
3x3L
DP
£2,746.25

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

According to Alexandre Thienpont, "the radiant profile of Vieux Château Certan wines was shaped by the cool conditions at the end of the season, with expressive, aromatic must and particularly high tannin and anthocyanin potential. The results are a delight: fresh, concentrated, well-balanced, powerful wines with beautifully refined tannins". 2019 is a ripe, tannic wine which has maintained its fruit character and acidity incredibly well. It displays wonderful balance. The Merlot is dense, fleshy, suave and full and displays noble pedigree. The small amount of Cabernet Franc that has been selected for the First Wine is beautifully delicate, complex and flavoursome and with a lingering finish. The 2019 VCC is very promising and can be compared with the 2010 in terms of character, concentration and complexity. 85% Merlot (harvested 23rd to 27th September for old vines), 15% Cabernet Franc (2nd and 3rd October).

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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

98/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2019 Vieux Château Certan was picked from September 23 after light showers the previous day. "We dared to add some Cabernet Sauvignon in 2019, which gives complexity," Alexandre Thienpont remarks, "but the Cabernet was 'killed' in 2020." It has a much more discrete bouquet than the 2018, unfolding with truffle-tinged black fruit. There are fewer marmalade scents than I noticed a couple of years ago, but there is absolutely stunning delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins, like a cousin of the superlative 2016 in many ways, but it may be silkier towards the finish. Elegant yet paradoxically intense, this is VCC at full flight. And it's only on its opening pages! Tasted at the VCC vertical in Etikhove, Belgium.

drinking window 2030 - 2075

date of review 07/2024

99/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2019 Vieux Chateau Certan, composed of 78% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, is deep garnet-purple in color. Quite closed to start, it slowly reveals hints of plum pudding, blackberry preserves, and boysenberries with suggestions of Indian spices, mocha, and black olives. The full-bodied palate is fantastically layered, rich, and hedonic, with velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and decadent.

drinking window 2025 - 2060

date of review 05/2023

97/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

The tannins are firm and strict, keeping the dark fruits carefully in line. Tons of liquorice and slate, with a beautifully fragrant edge of violets, peonies, smoke. It has the kind of austerity that makes you happy to be patient, hiding layers and layers of nuance, with the sleight of hand between density and lightness, so it rises and falls, breathing through your palate, stretching its limbs. A delicious and beautifully classical expression, intellectual also, finishing with oyster shell salinity. 70% new oak, 40hl/h yield, harvest September 23 to October 3.

drinking window 2028 - 2043

date of review 01/2022

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.