2019 Chateau Troplong Mondot, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Bottle (750ml)

LP98+ "The 2019 Troplong Mondot is deep garnet-colored. It opens with violets, dark chocolate, and black cherries on the nose, giving way to notes of licorice, cardamom, and wet slate. The palate is full, taut, and muscular, with amazing tension and fine-grained tannins, finishing long and minerally. In 10-12 years, expect this quaking bomb to explode, producing a stunning mushroom cloud of perfume and flavor." LPB for TWI Feb 2024

RP98 "Has any Bordeaux château realized a more wholesale stylistic revolution in so short a time than Troplong Mondot? Since Aymeric de Gironde arrived at the estate in late 2017, the ultra powerful "shock and awe" style of the 2000s is out, and a new refinement is in. Of course, the deep clays that define the core vineyards around the château itself are never likely to produce light or ephemeral wines, but de Gironde has astutely understood that (to develop an analogy), when driving down hill, one can ease off on the accelerator. The 2019 Troplong Mondot is a ringing endorsement of the new direction, wafting from the glass with complex aromas of wild berries, violets, coniferous forest floor, licorice, raw cocoa and subtle spices, followed by a full-bodied, velvety and layered palate that's seamless and perfumed, its enveloping core of succulent fruit framed by rich, powdery tannins and lively acids. Harmonious and penetrating, I never thought I'd taste a wine like this from Troplong Mondot." WK for TWA Apr 2022

JA98 "A brilliant vintage at Troplong, displaying an enticing blend of power and restraint, or rather measured extraction and controlled power. This was a warm year with leisurely ripening where you could go all out, but here the team has captured the natural freshness of limestone, and it tiptoes rather than storms across the palate. It is huge, with ripe damson and black cherry flavours, cut through with slate, sage and bitter black chocolate, all nuanced and characterful and just a wonderful poem to the stunning soils and potential of Troplong. For me it is the best of the flight. Improving from when I tasted it in bottle - and even then I was hugely impressed. 65% new oak, and 35% one year old barrels, with trials on amphoras and with larger 70hl oak casks. Harvest September 11 to October 5. Vibrant violet in colour, just excellent. 60% new oak, Thomas Duclos consultant." JA for IB Jun 2022

JS98 "The purity of fruit is pretty phenomenal here with blackcurrants, cherries and crushed-stone undertones. Floral notes of roses and violets, too. Full-bodied, yet this is a linear style with super fine tannins and great length and beauty. You really want to drink it. It grows on the palate and shows real power, with breadth and depth. Remains fresh throughout. Really something. Try after 2026." JS Feb 2022

William Kelley for RobertParker.com writes, "It's hard to think of any estate in contemporary Bordeaux that has witnessed a revolution more profound than that effected by Aymeric de Gironde at Troplong Mondot since his arrival here just after the 2017 harvest. The château itself sits at the peak of a dome of clay (known to geologists as molasses de l'Agenais) some 11-12 meters thick that has never been eroded away, and it's the vines that grow here that represent the heart of Troplong Mondot. These clays were compacted, so one of de Gironde's first initiatives was to work to undo that, ploughing by horse and employing cover crops. But Troplong's vineyards aren't limited to this dome: they encompass a range of altitudes from 40 to 110 meters above sea level, ranging onto the plateau toward the town of Saint-Émilion and almost to its edge to the south, obligating a broad window of harvesting dates, with greater attention paid to avoiding over-ripeness. Other evolutions have occurred in the winery and cellar: malolactic fermentation now completes in tank instead of in barrel; and the percentage of new oak is much reduced and, more importantly, less impactful in profile. All of which has brought new aromatic range and textural finesse and, above all, better balance to wines that, in trying to push the boundaries, in the past tended to exceed them. Having tasted Troplong Mondot back to 1959 over the years, I can attest that this site, well-farmed, is never going to produce light, ephemeral wines: power can be taken for granted. What's less self-evident is to render that power with finesse. The 2019 vintage demonstrates that de Gironde and his team are capable of doing just that." Published: Apr 07, 2022