This wine would have easily made wine of the month, but I try to only designate wines of the month for wines that are widely availalbe.  The 1986 Vieux Chateau Certan during a dinner celebration in May 2006, and was paired with a nice grilled veal chop and twice baked potatoes.

Anyone who thinks that merlot is soft, unintereting, and unageable has never had a good Pomerol.  Merlot does things in Pomerol that it can't do anywhere else. Of course, Vieux Chateau Certan is not 100% merlot, but rather, a blend of merlot, cabernet franc, and a tiny bit of cabernet sauvignon.  The exact blend differs from year to year, but the vineyard is planted in 60% merlot, 30% cab franc, and 10% cab sauv, and most vintages bear a rough resemblence to the vineyard proportions.

I had this wine in May of 2006.  It was twenty years old.  The wine still held a nice dark ruby color in the center, starting to turn just a bit amber at the edges.  It still had a huge bouquet of truffles, forrest floor, and sweet black fruit and wild cherries.  There was plenty of fruit still on the palate,  and the tannins had softened to velvet like quality.  The finish lingers like a passing cloud in the sky.  The wine has reached full maturity, but will probably last a few more years.  No need to wait longer.  Drink up now!

This was a phenomenal twenty year old wine from one of my favorite producers.

4.5 stars

 

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