(WE95-97 points) A ripe, perfumed wine with spice and sweet, delicious fruit, sustained by dense, opulent tannins and red fruits. A greater dominance of Merlot in the wine in 2006 has resulted in a richer, fatter wine than usual.

Youthful nose, where typical eucalyptus leaf is allied to licorice root, blond pipe tobacco, cedar wood and balsamic complexity. Dense, full-bodied palate with elegant, velvety tannins that are soaked in almost salty flavors. Refreshing acidity and an amazingly long, broad and balanced finish with plenty of structure. Such a great, classy wine and impressively close to the 2005. Best from 2026.

Tasted blind at Farr Vintners' horizontal, the 2006 Vieux Château Certan remains an outstanding proposition. It has an airy red cherry and raspberry bouquet, a hint of bergamot tea in the background, succinctly defined, even if the fruit needs some encouragement from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin. The acidity is well judged, harmonious in the mouth, quite smooth with hints of truffle oil and white pepper towards the composed, quite sensual finish. Give this a couple of more years in bottle and then it should drink well for at least a couple of decades. Tasted April 2016. - Neal Martin

A beauty from the moment it's first poured, this wine is one of the few in the vintage with the power to awe. Alexandre Thienpont cares for these cabernet franc and merlot vines at the top of the Pomerol plateau, and shepherds them into a wine of subtlety and reserve. There's no blast of power, just a clarity and brightness, as if a door were opening to a sunny field of wild strawberries. There's something darker as well, like the cool forest floor at the edge of the field, and the ripe black cherries that grow above it. The wine has a natural surety, the beauty and fineness of a great terroir. Built to last.

Shows complex and subtle aromas of dried dark fruits and blueberry. Full-bodied with silky tannins and a long refined finish. Very fine. Solid and balanced with lovely sweet fruit on the finish. All in place for the vintage. Best from 2014 through 2020. 3255 cases made. -JS

The 2006 Vieux Château Certan was picked from September 12 after ten days of clement weather when two deluges, 60mm then 40mm, fell within 24 hours after the Merlot had been picked. The dilemma was whether to expedite the picking of the Cabernets, though Alexandre Thienpont decided to risk it and waited. Consequently, he lost two-thirds of the crop to wait but believes the surviving one-third was worth it. Though not a huge fan of this vintage in Bordeaux, this is certainly one of its few outright successes. Black fruit, pencil shavings and touches of desiccated orange peel and prune unfold on the nose without the bravura of the preceding vintage, yet detailed and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, riper than many of its Right Bank peers, and has a very slight viscosity towards the finish. Notes of raspberry, strawberry, a hint of fig and a dash of spice linger on the aftertaste. This is a more austere VCC, though drinking very well now, but it has the substance to age. Tasted at the VCC vertical in Etikhove, Belgium. -- Neal Martin