1964 Vieux Chateau Certan

‘A very good vintage although all Bordeaux producers stated that they “ picked before the rain. ” Mild wet winter. Quite warm spring. Very good flowering conditions. Hot and dry summer; up until mid-September, a ripe, healthy, generous crop everywhere. Weather deteriorated mid-September with two weeks of constant rain. The Right Bank was seen as producing the best wines as it was a textbook growing season and being earlier ripening, certainly picked before the rain.’ Rich, beguiling nose. Fresh yet rich, exciting and complex. A really stunning wine. Racy and very sweet. So fresh! Lots of tension and cassis fruit. Still fruity and glorious. (JR)

The 1964 Vieux Château Certan, which like other vintages includes 50% Cabernets/Malbec, is a vintage that I have tasted several times. Like many Pomerols, it escaped the later September rains. It has a wonderful bouquet with red fruit, a touch of chlorophyll, raspberry and hints of cedar that turn more fungal with aeration. Superb delineation. The palate is fresh and vibrant, maybe not quite as complex as, say, the '64 Figeac tasted a few weeks earlier, yet there is an endearing piquancy on the finish. Real harmony and precision here, a quite delicious '64 Pomerol that continues to give pleasure. Tasted at the VCC vertical in Etikhove.

The 1964 Vieux Château Certan comes from a vintage fecund with great Pomerol. This is one of them. It has an ethereal bouquet, more sumptuous than the 1961 or 1962, with plenty of red berry fruit laced with decaying autumn leaves, morels and chlorophyll. I feel this has matured in recent years and lost some of its youthful exuberance. The palate is grainy in texture, quite spicy with tarry red fruit, very complex and deep as it fans out with gusto towards the finish. There is a fine sapidity on this 1964 that might be edging closer to the end of its drinking plateau. Tasted at the Vieux Château Certan dinner at La Trompette.