2000Data sheet

The particularly mild, rainy start to the year resulted in early bud bursting in the vines. The weather remained changeable until July.

The Year 2000 proved to be extremely trying for growers, from winter until the beginning of the summer, requiring constant, painstaking attention to the vines.

The sunshine and regular wind that reigned from the end of July until harvest time were obviously welcomed here as a godsend!

Harvesting started on September 13 in the earliest plots of the Merlot grapes, and continued until September 27 to pick the Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon varieties at their optimal ripeness. After 20 months of maturing in new oak barrels, the Vieux Château Certan 2000 today presents all the qualities of a great, classic vintage. Much as the 1996 vintage, it offers a wide range of aromas, where toasted fragrances serve to enhance the bouquet of raspberry, blackberry and liquorice. Particularly marked by the Cabernet Franc (20% in the final blend), it is deliciously fat on the palate with a remarkable aromatic intensity.

"The Vieux Château Certan 2000, an ideal wine for cellaring, deserves to be kept for another 8 to 10 years before being opened. You can even wait for twenty years or more."

Alexandre Thienpont