Vieux Château Certan 2013

The 2013 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 76/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Coulure decimated the merlots and the rain did the rest: a light vintage, where the gap between terroirs is wider than usual.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pomerol. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

The vintage

From winter to the beginning of summer, the first six months of the year were cool, and rainfall was heavy. These conditions resulted in substantial reductions in crop yields as from the flowering process. Generally fine weather at last arrived in July, followed by stormy conditions at the beginning of August and then favourable dry conditions towards the end of the month.

Thanks to a very small quantity of grapes and meticulous sorting of the best berries during virtually the whole of August, ripening was homogeneous.

As harvest time approached, and despite very tricky hot and humid weather conditions, the risks taken with such a low yield to achieve good ripeness levels in the berries paid off. Merlot, which made up a large part of the blend this year because of its early ripening, was ripe, suave and had very good length of flavour. It is the Merlot variety with its bright, cheerful character that comes through in this vintage. Cabernet Franc plays a necessary part in the blend but in a more restrained proportion. It brings balance, character and complexity.

Crop thinning and de-leafing: from 8th to 30th August 2013. Harvest: from 30th September to 1st October, then from 3rd October to 5th October, finishing on 9th October 2013. Yield: 22 hectolitres per hectare. Bottling: from 25th to 29th May 2015.

Blend of the 2013 vintage

Figures from the 2013 sheet

• 13.5 % vol.Alcohol
• 22 hl/haYield

Winemaking

Gentle extraction and three weeks of vatting.

Ageing

Ageing in barrels, half of which were new.

Terroir

Établi sur 14 hectares d'un seul tenant, le vignoble de Vieux Château Certan est l’œuvre de plusieurs siècles de travail et de réflexion minutieuse. Ici, de l'orientation des vignes à la forte densité de plantation, de la répartition des cépages en fonction des sols, aux règles très strictes de taille et de palissage, tout est pensé pour obtenir les plus beaux raisins. Vieux Château Certan bénéficie de sols fertiles. Cela exige en retour une grande attention pour maitriser la vigueur, favoriser la maturité des raisins. Aujourd'hui, les vignes du domaine sont complantés à 60% de Merlot, 30% de Cabernet Franc et 10% de Cabernet sauvignon.

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