Vieux Château Certan is a

Bordeaux wine Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...

from the

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

Pomerol Pomerol (; oc, Pomairòus) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gironde Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine near Bordeaux in southwestern France. Wine With only . Pomerol is the smallest wine producing area in the Bordea ...

. The

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

is located on the Right Bank of the

Bordeaux wine region The wine regions of Bordeaux are a large number of wine growing areas, differing widely in size and sometimes overlapping, which lie within the overarching wine region of Bordeaux, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole area of the ...

, in the commune of Pomerol in the department

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...

. As all wine produced in this appellation, Vieux Château Certan is unclassified, but the estate is long recognised as among the great growths of the region, and by some reckoned comparable to neighbouring estate

Château Pétrus Pétrus is a Bordeaux, France, wine estate located in the Pomerol appellation near its eastern border to Saint-Émilion. A small estate of just , it produces a red wine entirely from Merlot grapes (since the end of 2010), and produces no seco ...

. The château also produces a

second wine Second wine or second label ( French: ''Second vin'') is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from '' cuvee'' not selected for use in the ''Grand vin'' or first label. In some cases a third wine or e ...

named Gravette de Certan.

History

Although the estate's origins are uncertain, its age has been estimated by professor

Henri Enjalbert Henri Enjalbert (1910 – June 19, 1983) was a French professor of geography at the University of Bordeaux. He was considered an eminent specialist in wine geology, whose expert opinion frequently overlapped into the fields of oenology, and win ...

to an origin date around 1770. It was then the property of the Demay family, and the estate was named Sertan. Long estimated as the leading estate of the region, it yielded the position to the adjacent Pétrus in 1875. The estate was bought by the Belgian wine merchant Georges Thienpont in 1924, and it has remained within the family since. The family diversified in 1979 when Marcel and Gérard Thienpont founded nearby microcuvée estate

Château Le Pin Château Le Pin, or simply Le Pin, is a Bordeaux wine from the appellation Pomerol. The unusually small estate is located on the Right Bank of France's Gironde estuary in the commune of Pomerol in the hamlet of Catusseau, and its wine is frequent ...

. In 1985, management of Vieux Château Certan came to Alexandre Thienpont.

Production

The estate consists of 14 hectares with the grape variety of 60%

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

, 30%

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

and 10%

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

. The annual production averages 5,000 cases of the ''Grand vin''.

References

External links

Vieux Château Certan official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vieux Chateau Certan Bordeaux wine producers