The wine is very tight at the moment. The power is there as well as a wealth of perfectly ripe black cherries, plums, licorice, very dark chocolate and hints of flowers. Full-bodied, concentrated and dense, the wine demands at least 7-9 more years of sleep before it is ready to go.

Slowly opening, taking its time and yet full of precise, fleshy pleasure. This is an understated 2010 as far as the vintage goes on the Right Bank, muscular while full of elegance and mouth watering pleasure. Dark chocolate notes, a fistful of tannins, fleshy but carefully extracted fruits, just a lovely example of Pomerol on the subtler side of the street. Drinking Window 2020 - 2042
Tasted by Jane Anson (at BI London, 30 Jan 2020)

Super broad and muscular, with lots of dark fig, currant and chocolate notes. A smoky tobacco edge on the back end is starting to emerge, and this begins to gush linzer torte and cassis with air. A very big wine. One of the stars of the appellation in 2010. 86 percent Merlot, 8 percent Cabernet Franc and 6 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, almost the same as 2009. Tasted non-blind. —J.M.

Alexandre Thienpont thinks 2010 is even more powerful and tannic than 2009. This is certainly a big wine, dominated by its Merlot component (86%, with the rest mostly Cabernet Franc). The natural alcohol level is 14.5%, slightly above 2009, but the pH is a healthy 3.7, and the wine, like so many 2010s, is a paradox. The alcohols are often the highest ever yet the acidities are fresh and lively, and the wine crisp and refined. This is a deep purple-colored wine, with loads of opulence and fat, a voluptuous texture and tremendous purity. The style is a modern-day version of what they probably achieved in 1947, 1949 and 1950. Thienpont attributes the wine’s freshness to the lack of any real heat wave, the drought, and the very cool nights in September. This wine should drink well for 20-40 years.

Good deep ruby. Spicy aromas of blueberry, licorice, minerals, flowers and bitter chocolate. Sweet, suave and deep, with lovely lift to the complex cabernet franc-driven violet, cocoa and white pepper flavors. Firmly structured and long on the refined, youthfully chewy, tannic finish. This 2010 will really need at least a few years to expand, but will probably always remain a more austere wine than the 2009. I think will also prove to be a very ageworthy VCC.

The 2010 Vieux Château Certan feels a little disjointed at first, eventually manifesting more freshness with black fruit, freshly tilled earth, morels and cedar, all very well defined but I suspect requiring more bottle age. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins. Pretty red berry fruit laced with soy, white pepper and cedar, fanning out beautifully and exerting a very gentle grip towards the finish. Superb. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.

(86% merlot, 8% cabernet franc and 6% cabernet sauvignon; 3.7 pH; 90 IPT; 75% new oak; 14.5 % alcohol) Deep purple-ruby. Knockout nose displays amazingly penetrating aromas of black cherry, cassis, violet, pungent herbs and minerals; for me, this is the nose of the vintage! Then rich, fresh and mouthfilling, with lively acidity framing and lifting the wine's dark fruit, floral and mineral flavors. The very long, palate-saturating finish features building tannins that turn just slightly astringent at the back. Had the tannins been just a bit finer, this might have been the wine of the vintage. Alexandre Thienpont feels that this wine is similar to the 1950, while the 2009 is more like the 1948, and he notes there was 20% less production in 2010 than in 2009.

[86M/8CF/6CS] Dense, sweet, minerally and spicy nose with no sense of overripeness; beautifully balanced, elegant wine, fresh in acidity, with a fine textured firm tannin and no excess alcohol presence in spite of the 14.5%; full bodied, strongly mineral infused ripe black cherry flavour, complex, prolonged, with a vital definition from its acidity, an underlying ‘creaminess’ and excellent fragrance on its long, ‘stony’; black cherry finish. Packed with fruit, yet remarkably transparent, well defined and strongly mineral as well. Graceful, complete, sumptuous, large scale VCC, a great success in the year. 2022-40+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2011]

Particularly dark, lustrous crimson. Very complex, distinctive nose. Sweet Indian ink on the nose. Wonderfully flattering glossy texture with more nuance than many 2010 right-bank wines. There are depths to this with beautifully ripe tannins in abundance. Why couldn’t everyone manage this? This is an outstanding wine by any measure, with the Cabernet adding so much. (JR)

Tasted blind. Deep garnet with brick rim. Complex nose that is ripe and mature but also decadently perfumed. Then surprisingly light on the palate (compared with most 2010s), not nearly as intense as I expected but persistent. Tannins are finely textured and it is more delicate in the middle than most, which is a positive in such a chunky vintage, and finely balanced. Lovely freshness. (JH)

Magnum. Lovely fragrance – this is really expressive, and much more open-knit than the Lafleur 2011 tasted immediately before. Excellent chew and grain to the palate. Long, dark-fruited finish. Excellent power. (RH)

The 2010 Vieux Château Certan is deep garnet in color, and—POW—the nose opens as a complete spice-bomb, featuring notes of fenugreek, cumin seed and cinnamon stick over a core of Black Forest cake, plum preserves and blueberry pie with hints of fragrant earth and crushed stones. Full-bodied, rich and seductive in the mouth, it is laden with layers of black and blue fruit preserves, framed by super plush tannins, finishing epically long and perfumed.

A perfect wine with perfect purity of fruit. It shows gorgeous aromas of blackberries, currants and cedar with hints of chocolate. Full body, with a lovely sweetness of fruit and ripe tannins. It goes to chocolate, hazelnut and spices. Nutmeg too. Sexy and incredible. It has so much depth of fruit and density. Better in 2020.
-www.jamessuckling.com, 'Tasting Report: 2010 Bordeaux "More Great Vintage"', 3 Feb 2012

(100 pts)
This is off the charts. I am blown away. This is so concentrated yet perfect. With chocolate, blackberry, coffee. Full and amazing in density and balanced. The grapes were tiny and the production was tiny. I am speechless. This may match the legendary 1947 or 1945.