Bordeaux 2018: VCC signs off

Vieux Château Certan’s release effectively brings the 2018 campaign to an end and with an ambitious price to match the character of the campaign.

The latest vintage of the Pomerol estate was released at €210 ex-négociant giving it an opening price of £2,628 per dozen. Volumes were also down 15% on last year.

Scores from the main critics have been high and the wine was named the third ‘best’ wine of the vintage by Liv-ex’s global members.

Antonio Galloni scored it 94-97 points calling it a “wine of refinement” that had given him a “visceral thrill”.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW meanwhile remarked on its “jaw-dropping brightness” and gave it a 97-100 spread and James Suckling gave it 99-100 points.

Scores aside however, it’s a beefy price, almost equal to the current price of the 2010 and at a slight discount to the 2016 – which received 100-points from Neal Martin.

As ever it somewhat depends on which critic you trust more as to whether the price is ‘fair’ or not.

If following Galloni then there’s an argument that this price is too steep and buyers would be better off trying to track down the 2015, 2014 and 2009 vintages which are all sub-£2,500 per 12 and the 2014 is sitting at £1,500.

Viewed through Perrotti-Brown and Suckling’s scores the release makes more sense, especially given the lower volumes and VCC’s rising star status.

There are a few wines still to come this campaign, Le Pin and Petrus for example but they are tightly allocated and tend to ‘work’ from campaign to campaign regardless of the factors at play on other releases so, to that end, two months and one day after Angelus got the ball rolling.

A full breakdown of the campaign and its successes and failures will follow.