The 2012 Vieux Chateau Certan is medium to deep garnet-purple colored. It charges out with impressively pure, laser-precise, and intense scents of blueberry compote, chocolate-covered cherries, and warm plum, plus hints of cinnamon toast, dried roses, and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, rich, and oh-so-classy in the mouth, the palate delivers velvety tannins and compelling tension, finishing very long and opulent. The blend this year is 87% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon.

A blooming bouquet backed by a splendid core of multi-faceted fruit give this real class, which Left Bank wines often lacked in 2012. The highest proportion of Merlot (87%) since the 1985 vintage, which third-generation owner Alexandre Thienpont described as a ‘glass of perfume’. Still improving.

The 2012 Vieux Château Certan is absolutely brilliant, but it shows a more Cabernet Franc-dominated style in its pure cassis, spring flower, graphite, green tobacco, and lead pencil-like aromas and flavors. These carry over to the palate, where the wine is medium to full-bodied, with a focused, pure, precise mouthfeel carrying ultra-fine tannins, remarkable purity, and a rare mix of freshness, elegance, and persistence. Where current vintages are more about incredible opulence without any sensation of weight, this is more about fineness, purity, and precision. It’s a sensational Pomerol that is just now in its early prime drinking window and has another two decades of longevity.

Soft raspberry fruits, plenty of enjoyable tobacco and saffron notes, this has grace and poise and tension, stretched out and fill of character. A good moment to start drinking, the tannins are melted and overall this is juicy and moriesh with a saline-streaked finish.

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux tasting. The 2012 Vieux Château Certan has a potent, smoke, cooked meat, Cabernet Franc-scented bouquet that is beautifully defined—quintessentially Pomerol. You want typicité? Come right here. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, quite gentle as it sashays across the mouth. The acidity is very well judged and leads to an elegant tobacco tinged finish. Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont have produced one of the finest wines of the Right Bank in 2012, one that is up there with the greats. Tasted January 2016. - Neal Martin

This wine is already so delicious, it’s initially hard to find the structure. Packed with black fruits, it has velvet tannins that only slowly reveal their power. Layers of generous Merlot give the ripest black plum flavors. The wine is rich and the tannins well integrated, yet everything will age well. Drink from 2024.

94+ Vieux Château Certan has made one of the great wines of the 2012 vintage (no surprise here, as the last swing and a miss here probably dates back to the early 1940s!) and it is destined to be a legendary VCC as the years unfold. The cépages is quite merlot-dominated this year, as Monsieur Thienpont noted that it was particularly fine in this vintage, and the blend is eighty-seven percent merlot, twelve percent cabernet franc and one percent cabernet sauvignon (from the great old vines that still remain here from that variety). Final analysis had not been completed, but the Thienponts expect the wine to come in between 13.4 and 13.5 percent in this vintage. As Alexandre Thienpont commented, “for us, 2012 is very similar to 1985 here at Vieux Château Certan and we expect the new vintage to age very similarly to the ’85.” Harvest began here on October 1st, so the teams waited for the late September rain to work through before starting to pick. The resulting wine is stunning, offering up a beautiful and utterly classic nose of cassis, dark berries, espresso, cigar smoke, gravel, tobacco leaf and a judicious base of nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows excellent mid-palate depth, with a supremely elegant profile, suave tannins, bright acids for the vintage and a very long, complex and classy finish. This is not as powerful as the 2005 here, but it is very close in absolute quality in its more elegant and classic style. Just a superb wine. (Drink between 2022-2050)

Truffle, chocolate, cherry blossom and plum aromatics open to a fresh, soft, sweet, silky plum and black cherry finish. Give this just a few years to develop more charm, complexity and softness.93 Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2012&wine=Vieux%20Chateau%20Certan

(92+ points) This bottle of 2012 Vieux Château Certan didn't match the previous one 12 months earlier. The aromatics feel slightly more subdued, although they begin to unfurl with lovely leather and lavender hints that combine effortlessly with the red fruit. The palate has very fine tannins and a beguiling smooth texture. It's plush on the finish, where I feel that the oak needs a couple more years to be entirely subsumed. Tasted at the Lia's Wings/book dinner at Medlar restaurant. -- Neal Martin