Vines grow all around the elegant château, whose oldest part dates back to the 12thcentury.

The vineyards however, were first planted in the 16th century and the estate has only been called by its present name since 1745.

Georges Thienpont acquired Vieux Château Certan in 1924. His grandson, Alexandre, has managed the estate since 1985.

The vineyard is located on the Pomerol plateau, just next to Pétrus. The terroir features a large concentration of sand and gravel soil. The warm, sunny microclimate is conducive to good ripening. The grapes are hand picked and carefully sorted in the vineyard in order to retain only the ripest, healthiest fruit.

Vieux Château Certan was long made with an unusually high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon (nearly 20%). However, this grape variety often finds it difficult to ripen properly in Pomerol. Alexandre Thienpont has gradually replaced this variety with Cabernet Franc and Merlot, which are better-adapted to the terroir.

This estate produces deep, spicy, well-focused wines with a tightly-knit texture. One of the oldest estates in Pomerol, Vieux Château Certan is now recognized as one of the best wines in the appellation.

In the Bottle

Château Vieux Château Certan's older vintages (up until the 1970s) are difficult to find in France since the entire production was exported at one time. By dint of continuous experimentation and hard work, Alexandre Thienpont has made ongoing improvements to Vieux Château Certan's wine.

He has taken great pains over the past decade to obtain optimum phenolic maturity and fermented grapes from each of Vieux Château Certan's 15 plots separately. These efforts have paid off, and quality has much improved. The 2000, 2004, and 2005 vintages are altogether remarkable, while 2006 and 2008 Vieux Château Certan also looks very promising.

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Vieux Château Certan, La Gravette de Certan (second wine)