Vieux Chateau Certan

[JonB]

A local importer, Bordeaux Wine Locators, hosted Francois Thienpont at a dinner. I was fortunate to have been seated next to Francois, and so we had discussions on a number of subjects. Francois’ family owns/produces Le Pin, Vieux Chateau Certan and Peygueraud, and has a number of other projects that they are involved in, including Pavie Macquin and Larcis Ducasse. What I thought was going to be a tasting focused on Pavie Macquin was instead primarily VCC, and I was not disappointed. Thienpont has a negociant business, while a brother and cousin run family wine estates.
The VCC’s poured were 1990, 1998 and 2006. The 1990 was fully mature, and the bouquet evolved from forest floor to violets over the course of the dinner. This had a sweetness to it, currant, and a silky, lithe mouthfeel. 94. The 1998 was the youngest of the three, more acidity, and the bouquet was graphite and cedar, more power than the '90, and a mix of black fruits. 93 The 2006 bouquet evolved from graphite to violet, this has plenty of power and is more extroverted. 93 I liked all three. Francois talked about how this wine was both a product of great effort every year in the vineyard and vinification. They make quite a few passes in the vineyard to pick at optimal grape ripeness, and consequently make quite a few different barrels of different grape variety and pick date, and the final blend is selected from the barrels, and can vary each vintage. The vines are all over 25 years old, the oldest dating to 1932. The vines 25 years and under are used in the Gravette de Certan. Francois told a story of a former owner of Petrus buying VCC, and making the quote “I make Petrus, but I drink VCC”.

2008 Pavie Macquin showed me just how much young wines evolve. I last tasted this at UGC in January 2011, and most of the wines were dominated by sourness and high acidity. This only had a residual hint of that sourness, and was marked more by a limestone minerality that I find characteristic of Pavie Macquin. Francois commented how Pavie Macquin has a lot of power, and they have to be diligent in not over extracting. Cherry and plum flavors. Quite good. 93?

2005 and 2009 Gravette de Certan were similar in profile to the VCC, with the vintage characteristics very noticeable……the 2009 was concentrated, low acidity, and ripe….the 2005’s higher acidity made it fresher but the fruit wasn’t as up front. Both wines are drinking well.

We had several vintages of Puygueraud to start the occasion, and I didn’t take notes. Francois said the 2005 was drinking well now. He highly recommended the 2010 Gravette. His favorite wine is Haut Brion, but he said the 2000 La Mission Haut Brion is the most stunning wine he’s had recently, and after 4 hours or so of decanting…..it amazed him. He also brought up what a great value the 2010 Gran Puy Lacoste was.

[pnwskibum]

Hi Jon, I was also at this dinner with my wife Roxie. It was a real treat to be able to taste multiple vintages of VCC in one sitting with their second wine Gravette to give additional clarity into the great terrior they occupy. I also really enjoyed being able to speak with Francois, I found him to be a fun and down to earth wine lover/maker with great perspective of Bordeaux in general and his families properties in particular. It was nice meeting you, hopefully BWL will do further wine dinners in the future. Matt

[JonB]

Hi Matt. It was nice to meet you and your wife.
That was a great dinner, and I fully agree with you on Francois.

My first VCC was in a blind bout between '88 VCC and '89 Lynch Bages, and the two were initially hard to tell apart, even to the LB fans. The 1990 we had seemed like it was in a long plateau of a drinking window, but I was surprised at how well the younger wines showed.

Hope to see you at another dinner. Or the ski slopes.

[pomilion]

Jon -- thanks for the notes. I have a few bottles of the '06 -- do you have a guess about the optimal drinking window (I have 4 and would like to drink them over, say, a 10-year window). Thanks.

[JonB]

Hi pomilion - the 2006 shows a lot of power now, but seemed to evolve more quickly in glass than the 1998, and various elements seemed to poke out (e.g. at various times the alcohol, or the fruit, or the acidity, seemed to predominate). It was fascinating to follow how it went from a fine graphite bouquet to violets. So it is interesting to drink now, but my thought is perhaps the elements will be more together in 4 to 5 years. I don't see this falling apart or fading away in the next 20 years, based on other VCCs I've tasted.

[pomilion]

Thanks Jon -- sounds like good advice, will open one in perhaps 5-6 years and see how it's doing.