Alexandre Thienpont was very happy with the quality of the Cabernet Franc at Vieux Château Certan in 2014 but sees that the success and harmony of the wine is the way it has married with the Merlot, which he describes as being of ‘excellent’ quality. 2014 was not a vintage ‘saved’ by Cabernet Franc, Thienpont believes, and he feels that the varieties have come together extremely well in combination. Certainly ‘VCC’ is deliciously pure and dazzling in 2014.

Bordeaux’s primeurs week ended for me, as it began, in St Emilion. While perhaps 2014 will be seen as a vintage for the Cabernets and therefore the Left Bank, there is in fact a lot to like about the texture and freshness of the best wines from Pomerol and St Emilion. Cyrille Thienpont who works with his father at many Right Bank properties [including Berliquet, Larcis-Ducasse and Pavie-Macquin], said it was as much the terroir that mattered [well drained, clay-limestone] as the variety [Merlot/Cabernet] in St Emilion. These thoughts were echoed in Pomerol by his cousin Alexandre Thienpont at Vieux Château Certan [the 2014 VCC is an intellectual beauty by the way]. What pleased him was the marriage of the Merlot and the Cabernet on his property. The vintage, he believes, allowed the elements to combine well, and that the strength of the wine [and perhaps the vintage?] was in the combination rather than in any of the particular elements here on the Right Bank.

There is no doubt that Alexandre Thienpont at Vieux Château Certan has produced one of the purest wines in Bordeaux 2013. The wine has wonderful clarity and delicacy. There was a risk that no wine might be produced at all. The blend took time to work out and Thienpont admits to being in a fog about its composition in the early part of this year. The final blend for the grand vin represents just four barrels of wine with half a barrel reserved for topping-up.