Vieux Chateau Certan Vertical Tasting: A Century of Power and Grace

Celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Vieux Chateau Certan’s ownership under the same family meant that there were lots of great wines to toast the occasion. The 14 attendees at the two-day tasting in the Flemish village of Etikhove last month included members of the Thienpont clan, the Belgian wine merchants who bought the Bordeaux property a century ago and who organized the event.

There were many memorable bottles, but it was the vintages of the 1940s that told the story of the past as well as the present, highlighting the unique ability of VCC, as it is widely known, to combine power and grace in its unique Pomerol blend of mostly merlot and cabernet franc with a touch of cabernet sauvignon.

There can be many ways to set up a giant vertical tasting like the one organized by the husband-and-wife team of Jacques Thienpont and Fiona Morrison, the current owners of VCC. The most common approach is to start at the beginning, in this case going back to 1923, when Josephine Billiet asked her husband, Georges Thienpont, if she could use her own money to purchase the beautiful VCC estate. Having purchased Chateau Troplong Mondot in 1921, he acquiesced immediately, and the couple began their almost 40-year adventure, traveling to and from Etikhove and Pomerol.

Georges came from the Flemish Ardennes, where the Thienpont family lived in a manor house, Hof te Cattebeke. This manor, with its large courtyard and extensive cellars, has served as the base for the family business since 1842. Georges  traveled regularly to Bordeaux to purchase wines in barrel, but with the collapse of Wall Street in 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression, he was forced to sell Troplong Mondot. But he managed to hold onto Vieux Chateau Certan, and then produced some incredible Pomerols in the 1940s and 1950s despite the difficulties of World War II and the Great Frost of 1956. Upon his death in 1962, one of his sons, Leon, who had an agricultural degree, took over at VCC.

Today, it is the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Georges who carry on the family legacy. Jacques, who now lives at Hof te Cattebeke, created the tiny estate of Le Pin in Pomerol in 1979 and took over the wine merchant business in Belgium. Leon’s son, Alexandre (Jacques’ cousin), has been the VCC winemaker since 1986. A rare example of humility, he approaches his often great wines with curiosity, as if they were made by someone else, never indulging in self-satisfaction. His son Guillaume now helps him on the winemaking side.

Excluding the celebratory intent of the VCC vertical tasting, the question on everyone’s minds was how well the older vintages have held up through the years, considering that Bordeaux in general and Pomerol in particular are known for producing some of the world’s longest-lasting wines. The wines for the tasting came mostly from the Hof te Cattebeke cellar and haven’t been moved since their release, so storage conditions were perfect.

The wines are from a single vineyard plot of 14 hectares situated at the highest point of the Pomerol plateau, sharing the celebrated blue clay of the region alongside Cheateau Petrus, among others. According to Alexandre Thienpont, the presence of iron in the clay subsoils reduces the vigor of the vines. And since clay retains more moisture (favoring hot and dry vintages) this slows the maturation of the otherwise early-ripening merlot grapes, contributing to the overall power of the wines.

But this power is only one part of the VCC equation – it’s also a Pomerol blend with a large presence of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, at around 30 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Alexandre Thienpont emphasized during the tasting that merlot alone tends to be too one-dimensional, and so the generous contribution of cabernet franc is what gives the VCC wines their personality and defines them, adding grace and aromatic complexity to the power.

The tasting was a critical journey through the history of European winemaking from the early 20th century to today. Georges and Josephine started  making their wines at VCC in 1923, at about the same time the U.S.S.R. was established. Georges Thienpont waited two years before putting the first vintage on the market, and today the Vieux Chateau Certan Pomerol 1923 has the typical potpourri, truffle and rhubarb root notes of an old VCC, while on the palate it maintains a marked vitality.

By 1934, Georges had become uncompromising in the vineyard, after selling Troplong Mondot, and it shows in the wine of that year, which retains such a lively character of tamarind, cigar box and mint with a full body, not to mention extraordinary finesse and balance.

Some of VCC’s best years came in the 1940s, and featured the finesse of 1940, the richness and power of 1942, the evolution displayed in the 1943 despite a tense palate (the harvest that year began on Sept 9), and the magnificence of 1945. The latter shows potpourri, anise and vibrant prunes alongside some Mediterranean and minty notes. It is impressive for its breadth, fullness and power, but with an unmissable grace.

At this point in the tasting, we jumped to 1982, another celebrated hot vintage in which some neighboring vineyards may have outshined VCC. Alexandre admits that “it is a good wine, but it would be great with 10 hectares less production.” 1982 compares favorably to 1947.

The 1983 was very much a child of the finesse of cabernet franc, while the ‘85, made by Georges with his grandson Alexandre for the first time, is still fruity with evolving notes but tension on the palate. However, the 1989 stands out for its finesse on the nose with dried flowers and coffee grounds. It’s also meaty and savory. This is the year cabernet franc was replanted and was also “an outstanding early-growing merlot year,” according to Alexandre.

For dinner, Jacques and Fiona continued the vertical tasting by opening the vintage of each guest’s birth year. This allowed us to taste the 1953, which is regarded as one of the best post-war vintages, and the 1955, which is all cashmere and silk with long-ago reminders of dark fruit and cigar box. Then we reached 1961. If someone had lied about their birth year to taste it, God bless them!

READ MORE EN PRIMEUR 2023 (PART I): A RETURN TO BORDEAUX

BORDEAUX EN PRIMEUR 2023 (PART II): A VINTAGE TO LOVE, BUT AT WHAT PRICE?

It was a tough year in the vineyard in 1961, with spring frost, rain at flowering and summer drought. The grapes had thick skins and only reached a third of their usual yields. At the time, though, Georges Thienpont said it was “perhaps the best vintage” he had ever tasted, and that still holds true today. It was one of the best Pomerols I have tried in my life.

Some of the VCC ‘70s wines surprised despite not being quality vintages, but it was the 21st-century wines where greatness kicked into high gear. 2000 and 2001 are an equal match, as Alexandre Thienpont said, although I prefer the latter because it has a bit more energy. 2005, 2008, and 2009 make for an exceptional series of vintages, but it is in the 2010 where you finally find the substance of a great wine: where dense, vibrant and meaty tones ally with the elegant leafiness of cabernet franc – in other words, quintessentially Pomerol.

Cabernet sauvignon, which was replanted in 2014, has either been absent or significantly reduced since that year because the young vines suffer during hot vintages and don’t have sufficient quality to enter the blend. But 2014 is still a delightful vintage, and the 2016, with its youth and sternness, highlights VCC’s potential to combine power and grace for another 100 years.

And power seems to prevail over grace in the 2017 to 2020 vintages, partly due to their youth and partly to the hotter climate during those years. In 2017 and 2018, the winery’s extraordinary ability to interpret warm vintages seems to emerge. In 2017, the tannins are more angular but the wine is rich, deep and perfectly balanced. The 2018 season seems to have given less dark and deep fruit, yet the wine shows a sweet dynamism on the palate. The 2020 vintage, thanks to the lack of cabernet sauvignon, shows an enviable olfactory openness and an embroidered palate, with a lot of good substance for the long haul.

However, despite a minimal difference in absolute value, it’s in 2019 that VCC’s signature form returns: the bright supple dark fruits with austere and earthy tones paired to a powerful yet well-controlled structure equal magic in a bottle.

– Aldo Fiordelli, Senior Editor