When Vieux Chateau Certan & Le Pin met Contino……..

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Contino’s first wine in 1974, Victor Urrutia, 5th generation family member and CEO of the C.V.N.E. group which includes Vinedos del Contino, decided that he wanted to create something unique. He has certainly achieved his goal with not only a first-of-its-kind for Rioja, but also with remarkable critical acclaim for an inaugural release.

Victor's groundbreaking idea was to facilitate the coming together of two formidable winemaking dynasties, bringing the knowledge and experience from a separate and hugely admired wine region. He wanted to create a wine that embodied the Contino philosophy as Rioja’s first Chateau concept winery, producing a wine from only from the vines surrounding property, combined with the elegant winemaking style of one of Bordeaux’s most lauded winemaking families.

Guillaume Thienpont (4th generation winemaker and co-owner of Vieux Chateau Certan and Le Pin in Pomerol) worked tirelessly with Jorge Navascués and Irene Bonilla (Contino’s winemaker and head of viticulture) to create this limited-production, single estate Tempranillo from Rioja Alavesa. It successfully brings together the identity of the San Rafael vineyard with a philosophy focused on finesse, balance and precision. Produced from three selected plots and made in very small quantities (Just 2800 bottles & 100 magnums), it has gained an excellent 97 points from Vinous, making it one of the very best wines from the region.

I was lucky enough to try this wine yesterday, alongside a selection of Gran Reservas from Contino. The Continos were a real treat - 2009 showing gorgeous red fruits, with a hint of balsamic on the nose, just entering its tertiary phase, 2016 still youthful and rich, just beginning to show secondary characteristics, and the glorious 2019, youthful and fresh with awesome balance, making it delicious now but with superb ageing potential. 2019 saw some new techniques, one of which was a reduction in new oak, making the wine more about fresh fruit, with less wood tannins. This does of course mean less of that lovely vanilla wood note on the nose, which was more noticeable on the 2009 and 2016, and I rather like! If you prefer the more modern style with less sweet vanilla flavours, then go for the 2019. Finally we moved onto the Chorus, and what a wine it is! Youthful in appearance, with a purple sheen to the liquid – honestly, it looks like a young Pomerol, and on first smell, you could easily be in Pomerol – it smells of violets and minerals and french oak! But then it opens up and shows more – a brightness of red berry fruit, a hint of something spicy, dark plum and berries, with a smoky note and some leafiness. Given that it is from 2024, I was expecting a young, tannic wine (like a Pomerol would be at this stage) but on the palate it is wonderfully refined, with a silky softness and beautifully integrated tannins. The wine is soft and fragrant, intense but delicately perfumed, and absolutely delicious. The first release of what is already one of the region’s finest wines!

“The 2024 Chorus (100% Tempranillo) marks the estate’s first wine of its kind, crafted under the direction of Guillaume Thienpont (Château Le Pin). Twelve months in French oak, 50% new, shaped its élevage. Fresh plum, delicate florals and pomegranate lead the nose, with a refined smoky nuance. On the palate, it is dry, plush and ample, moving with enveloping flow and layered red fruit intensity. Finely integrated oak and the precision of the 2024 vintage lend extra definition to the fruit profile. A modernized interpretation.” 

Drink 2026-2050

97pts, Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous, April 2026

“The nose reveals dark fruits, crunchy blackberries and violets. The palate is well knitted, medium- to full-bodied with polished, velvety tannins that focus toward the finish. Fresh dark fruit is very well delineated throughout. The wine is cohesive, as well as a polished expression of the Contino vineyard. It is already drinkable but will certainly age gracefully. It has vivacity and elegance, along with a clear sense of structure and a long, persistent trail of fruit on the finish. This is a collaboration between Contino and Vieux Château Certan’s Guillaume Thienpont from Pomerol. It is pure tempranillo chosen from three different parcels within the Contino vineyard. Drink or hold.” 

97pts, Jacobo Garcia Andrade, JamesSuckling.com, Feb 2026

“The 2024 Chorus was produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first wine from 1974. They decided to bring someone from outside to do a different interpretation of their vineyards and selected Guillaume Thienpont, from Vieux Château Certan fame. With the help of the Jorge Navascués technical team, they crafted an ethereal, fluid, brilliant Contino from 2024, different from any other ever produced here. The secret is to control the natural power of the place and to find the essence with finesse. It's pure Tempranillo that comes from three plots in the San Rafael estate, Viña del Olivo, San Gregorio Encina and Don Vicente, with different soils and orientations. The bunches were selected by hand and the grapes were sorted by an optical machine and fermented in oak vats with constant tasting to adjust the length and intensity of the pump-overs. It went through malolactic fermentation and 12 months of élevage in Seguin Moreau, Sylvain and Taransaud barriques, 50% of them new, 50% used. It is super young and showy, extroverted and expressive, a little lactic and creamy, with ripe fruit and a forward personality. It comes in at a moderate 13.86%, with a pH of 3.69 and 5.37 grams of acidity, parameters of balance and freshness, super elegant and sleek, velvety and with a dry finish. It has finesse and length. It has to be one of the finest wines produced at the property. A total of 2,800 bottles and 100 magnums were produced. It was bottled in January 2026. They will continue doing this wine every year in future vintages. The 2025 is already in progress.”

Drink 2027-2037

96pts, Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate, March 2026

“A wine of considerable grace and charm. There’s a subtle and delicate warm spice – cinnamon, a scratch of nutmeg – and dark plums, damsons, mulberries and bramble. Indeed, this is a wine composed of shades of dark red. It’s amply framed, but not excessively so and that gives this a sense of shape and calmness. It feels very natural and undemonstrative. It’s also very crystalline in texture for pure Tempranillo with a luminous mid-palate that helps one focus in on those delightful cedar and graphite notes. A wine that exudes harmony, this is deep and dark at its spherical core, with a lovely grip and pinch just before the lifted finish. Rioja with a Bordeaux sensibility.”

97+pts, Colin Hay, The Drinks Business, March 2026

“Blood orange, red cherry, roses and peony floral aromatics, enveloping with grip and tension, reflecting the al dente character of the vintage, and the layered complexity of the old vines at Contino. Fragrant and finessed, expands in the glass over 30 minutes, maintaining its sculpted side but deepening to show richer spiced plum, campfire and liquorice. Aged in 70% new oak, 3.7ph, just 3,000 bottles. Celebrating 50 years of Contino ownership by CVNE, this wine is a collaboration between Víctor Urrutia and Guillaume Thienpont of Vieux Château Certan, alongside Contino winemaker Jorge Navascués. The fruit is drawn from three blocks of the 55ha vineyard, which are then vinified and aged separately.”

96pts, Jane Anson, March 2026

Chorus embodies an exciting oenological path from Pomerol to the San Rafael estate, creating a choral song in liquid form, with a Spanish voice and a French accent. It is the result of a meeting between the talent and inquisitive sensitivity of Guillaume Thienpont and the hospitality of Contino.  

Chorus is a wine born of many voices in harmony: the land that gives Contino its identity and the oenological vision of Guillaume Thienpont. A journey of departure and return, drawing Rioja and Pomerol together, intertwining two sensibilities to create a powerful, resonant melody.

The origin of Chorus emerges from two trajectories: the San Rafael estate in Rioja Alavesa and the gravel and clay soils of the Pomerol plateau. Chorus is the natural consequence of two visions meeting in the glass: the pursuit of finesse, an intimate reading of the vineyard and the conviction that excellence always springs from a deep, enduring connection with the land.

Chorus reflects the diverse character of the soils and terroirs that coexist at Contino, refined through the mastery of Guillaume Thienpont; a wine in which different cultures, united by time, converge to create something conceived to stand among the great wines of the world.

A small, independent project where decisions are shared and where we all strive to go a little further, Chorus seeks finesse, purity and delicacy of texture, without ever losing the identity of this land. It is about understanding how a philosophy of balance and precision can meet the personality of Tempranillo in a meaningful way.

Shipping June/July 2026