1978 Vieux Chateau Certan
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Tasting notes
The 1978 Vieux Château Certan is still lucid in color with a tawny rim commensurate with its age. The bouquet certainly offers impressive vigor with redcurrant and cranberry fruit usurped by autumn leaf and tobacco scents. The palate is balanced but rustic compared to the VCCs from the 1980s. Quite ferrous at the beginning with firm tannins, it conveys the masculinity of the 1978s. It is a square-jawed broad-shouldered VCC whose provenance as much as anything else has seen it last almost 40 years. Interestingly a second encounter, this time from bottle, was a little more fleshy towards the end than the magnum with a lovely clove-infused finish. Tasted from magnum, one of the last remaining at the château, at Wine-Source’s VCC dinner.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The 1978 Vieux-Chateau-Certan has much more color than the 1979, with better concentration, a relatively rich, supple, medium-bodied texture, light tannins, and a round, attractive finish. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 7/83.
The 1978 Vieux-Chateau-Certan has much more color than the 1979, with better concentration, a relatively rich, supple, medium-bodied texture, light tannins, and a round, attractive finish. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 7/83. Jan 1998, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
The original Château at Vieux Château Certan dates back to around 1770 but the modern history of the estate begins in 1924 - the year that Belgian wine merchant Georges Thienpont purchased the property.