March 28, 2025
Vieux Chateau Certan 2022 - 4x Perfect 100-Point Ratings
Vieux Chateau Certan 2022 - a icon in Pomerol
“The 2022 Vieux Château Certan is s total stunner. Readers will find a magical wine, a Pomerol that satisfies both the intellectual and hedonistic senses. Vertical and explosive, with stunning presence, the 2022 VCC simply has it all” - Antonio Galloni
Vieux Chateau Certan (VCC) stands at the heart of Pomerol, a historic estate renowned for its timeless elegance and refined expression of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Under the stewardship of Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont, it has become one of Bordeaux’s most consistent and admired producers. With its checkerboard of old vines on prime clay and gravel terroir, VCC produces wines of striking purity, balance, and complexity that age gracefully and capture the essence of great Right Bank Bordeaux.
The 2022 vintage of Vieux Chateau Certan is nothing short of extraordinary, being the only wine in Vinous’s Bordeaux 2022 report to earn perfect 100-point scores from both Antonio Galloni and Neal Martin. A blend of 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, it captures the generous texture and depth of the vintage while remaining impeccably poised. Deep and expressive, with notes of black fruit, florals, spice, and graphite, it combines hedonistic richness with intellectual precision. A modern legend in the making, it promises decades of evolution and enjoyment.
With four perfect 100-point ratings—plus a 98 from William Kelley of The Wine Advocate—the 2022 VCC is simply unmissable. Compared to its Pomerol peers like Petrus and Le Pin, it remains a relative bargain.
This is a Bordeaux that’s harder to come by than most, so today’s offer is a rare opportunity. We have just one case each of 3x75cl and 6x75cl available—if you’re tempted, don’t wait. These won’t be around for long.
Vieux Chateau Certan 2022
€325* In Bond per bottle
100 Points | Vinous - Neal Martin
The 2022 Vieux Château Certan was stellar from barrel. Now, just a week after I retasted the immortal 1947, this latest iteration proves that quality remains as high under Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont as it did during the golden postwar era under Georges Thienpoint. Boasting an intense bouquet of blackberry, briar, iodine and iris flower, this is one of the most complex and mesmerizing wines in all of Bordeaux this vintage, let alone Pomerol. The palate offers exquisite balance, razor-sharp tannins, real sapidity and a fabulous grainy texture. The Cabernet components are very expressive and lend a completely different dimension to the finish. This is exceptional.
100 Points | Vinous - Antonio Galloni
The 2022 Vieux Château Certan is s total stunner. Readers will find a magical wine, a Pomerol that satisfies both the intellectual and hedonistic senses. Vertical and explosive, with stunning presence, the 2022 VCC simply has it all. Time in the glass reveals myriad shades of nuance. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, spice, menthol, licorice and plum literally soar out of the glass. The tannins are present but nearly buried by the wine's deep, layered fruit. But more than anything else, it is the balance, the total sense of harmony, that is most impressive. I simply can’t ask anything more of the 2022, hence its lofty and well-deserved rating. Bravo!
100 Points | Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Vieux Château Certan checks in as 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 18 months in two-thirds new French oak. Incredible aromatics of blackcurrants, mulled cherries, chocolate, woodsmoke, and flowery, spicy nuances all give way to a full-bodied Vieux Château Certan that builds incrementally on the palate, with flawless overall balance, a deep, layered mouthfeel, and velvety tannins. I love everything about this beauty, and while it's almost impossible to resist today, it's going to benefit from a decade in the cellar and shine for 40+ years.
100 Points | Falstaff
Deep dark ruby in colour with an opaque core, purple reflections, and subtle brightening on the rim. On the nose, intense aromas of ripe blackberry, plum and black cherry fruit, delicate nougat, a touch of fine oak and orange zest, with a floral background. The full-bodied palate is elegant with sturdy yet ripe and silky tannins, good freshness, and great balance with notes of black wild berries and nuances of chocolate, with a spicy, tremendously long finish. Certain ageing potential. (14.4% ABV, 75% Merlot/ 20% Cabernet Franc/ 5% Cabernet Sauvignon).
98-100 Points | The Wine Independent, Lisa Perrotti-Brown
A blend of 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon with a yield of 35 hl/ha, the 2022 Vieux Chateau Certan is deep garnet-purple in color. After a swirl or two, notes of black cherry preserves, black raspberries, and juicy black plums rocket out of the glass, followed by suggestions of star anise, lilacs, rose oil, and truffles with a waft of fertile loam. The full-bodied palate slowly grows in the mouth with layers of emerging mineral, floral, and exotic spice nuances intertwined with concentrated black fruits, supported by super-plush tannins and perfectly knit freshness, culminating in a very long-lasting firework display of floral and spice notes. pH 3.78.
98 Points | Wine Advocate, William Kelley
The 2022 Vieux Château Certan is deep and harmonious, unwinding in the glass with aromas of inky blackberries and cherries mingled with scents of burning embers, truffle and lilac. Full-bodied, dense and layered, it's rich and enveloping, its concentrated core of sweet fruit framed by powdery tannins and juicy acids. Integrated, complete and precise, this blend of 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon is a brilliant vintage for Vieux Château Certan.
98 Points | Decanter, Georgina Hindle
Great expressiveness on the nose; perfumed blackcurrants, black cherries, strawberries, notes of dark chocolate, graphite and liquorice - smells serious. Supple and taught on the palate but with a really juicy core that gives life and energy. Tannins are excellent, giving weight and texture - a combination of chewy and fleshy but with a crushed stone and spiced edge. Lively, bright, intense, concentrated and suave. It’s rich, broad, muscular, complex and nuanced but at the same time stylish with lots of life, balance and freshness. This leaves the most gorgeous lingering expression and a sense that it’s going to be both extremely accessible in its youth and have great ageing potential. 3.78pH. A yield of 35hl/ha.