After Petrus, perhaps no other Pomerol property attracts so much reverence as Vieux Chateau Certan. It certainly has an enviable location, plum in the heart of Pomerol and surrounded by the greatest names of the appellation. And the name of VCC itself? Certan was once Sertan, and may derive from a Portuguese word for desert; Portuguese travellers are said to have so named the area when they passed through in the Middle Ages. And there certainly is an old chateau on the estate.

Viticulture became the primary activity of the property in the 18th century, when the affluent Scottish Demay family, henceforward known as Demay de Certan, took over as landlords and negociants. The estate was confiscated from them in the French Revolution, although they managed to recover it and hang on in charge for another 50 years before they succumbed to debt and high taxation and sold up. After another long spell in the hands of the Bousquet family, in 1924 a Belgian wine merchant by the name of Georges Thienpoint acquired the estate; and it remains in the hands of the Thienpoint family today.

The blend is 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The relatively high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon for a right-banker helps make VCC a long-lasting wine - the 1948 is legendary.

With the distinctive pink capsule, this ought to be an easy wine to spot in the Bordeaux shelves of your local independent wine merchant - except that there probably won`t be any. It will have all gone en primeur. (NT 18/03/15)