Vieux Chateau Certan 2006

"One of the top wines of the vintage is the exquisite 2006 Vieux Chateau Certan. A blend of 83% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc, it is a stunningly rich effort boasting an inky/blue/purple color as well as a gorgeous nose of forest floor, coffee, toast, and extravagant levels of black currants and blackberries. Hints of charcoal and flowers add to the wine's exquisite character. What’s remarkable in this full-bodied wine is that nearly 100% new oak is used, yet the oak is largely drowned out by the wine's concentration and complex personality. This full-bodied Vieux Chateau Certan should be reasonably approachable in 3-4 years but last for at least three decades. This great success merits kudos to proprietor Alexandre Thienpont. "

96 Points

The Wine Advocate

"Shows complex and subtle aromas of dried dark fruits and blueberry. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a long, refined finish. Very fine. Solid and balanced, with lovely sweet fruit on the finish. All in place for the vintage. Best from 2014 through 2020. 3,255 cases made."

95 Points

Wine Spectator

"A beauty from the moment it's first poured, this wine is one of the few in the vintage with the power to awe. Alexandre Thienpont cares for these cabernet franc and merlot vines at the top of the Pomerol plateau, and shepherds them into a wine of subtlety and reserve. There's no blast of power, just a clarity and brightness, as if the door were opening to a sunny field of wild strawberries. There's something darker as well, like the cool forest floor at the edge of the field, and the ripe black cherries that grow above it. The wine has a natural surety, the beauty and finesse of a great terroir."

95 Points

Wine & Spirits

"Good full red-ruby. Very sexy aromas and flavors of black raspberry, blackberry, roasted coffee, violet and licorice. Lush, silky and highly concentrated, with an utterly seamless texture to the middle palate. Wonderfully, ripe, broad, merlot-based wine; solid as a rock but utterly pliant. Finishes with captivating lingering sweetness, the broad tannins completely buffered by the wine's ripe fruit. I sucked up my bottle of this elixir with great pleasure, but it has the stuffing for long aging."

94 Points

International Wine Cellar