A sensational Troplong. Vibrant and vivid, this makes you smile from the first smell: milk chocolate, floral notes of roses and lavender, wet stones, liquorice, cinnamon and ripe bramble fruits. Round and thrilling on the palate, tannins are abundant with a chalky blueberry coolness while a salty tang settles around the mouth. Lovely precision and purity of fruit; you feel the sharp definition - still linear which makes it less immediately charming than the 2019 but giving undeniable complexity. Deep but not heady, this remains pure and detailed, with a leanness from the terroir really setting this apart. After a few minutes, the glamour starts to appear giving a salivating, succulent and moreish aspect to the finish. An absolute beauty.
This has superb depth and intensity with very fine tannins that draw you down. So much black fruit, together with black pepper and salt. Extremely well crafted. Vertical and deep. Chalky and salty with black chocolate.
The 2020 Troplong Mondot is fabulous. Rich, dark and expansive, the 2020 is wonderfully exuberant right out of the gate. Black cherry, plum gravel, incense and licorice are all dialed up. There’s tremendous breadth and power, but without the excess weight of the past. Even so, the 2020 is a big, big wine that needs the better part of a decade to soften. All the classic Troplong structure is there, but buffered by vibrant acids and tons of supporting minerality. Harvest started on September 5 and finished on October 8, a very wide window for the Right Bank, and a reminder of how different the parcels are. The 2020 was done is 60% new oak, 12% foudres, and 28% once-used barrels.
I’d wager the finest vintage here since the 2015, then the 2009, the 2020 Château Troplong Mondot is a blend of 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Cabernet Franc. It offers a dense purple hue as well as powerful, unevolved aromas and flavors of pure crème de cassis, black cherries, graphite, gravelly earth, and tobacco. Coming from the highest elevation vineyard in the appellation and deeper, clay soils (which excelled in 2020), it’s medium to full-bodied and has a dense, thick mid-palate, building tannins, and a great finish. It’s not for the instant gratification crowd out there, but it’s going to be incredibly long-lived. Hats off to the team at Troplong Mondot as well as oenologist Thomas Duclos.
Inky dark in color with purple around the edges, the wine jumps out of the glass with its complex nose of plum liqueur, flowers, licorice, caramel, cappuccino, herbs and earth. Full-bodied, seductive, concentrated and powerful, yet even with all its richness, the wine remains light on its feet. The strong sense of minerality accompanying the fruit in the end note adds complexity. There is lift, length and purity from start to finish making you want to go back for sip and sip.
Powerful and knitted down, this feels both crafted and hewn out of the clay-limestone slopes of Troplong. Blueberry, plum, slate, cocoa, espresso, all the power of this estate delivered with salt-studded chocolate, liqourice root, cocoa powder, mint leaf, just a brilliant wine, that ends with a whoosh of freshness and lift. Just 2mm of rain in July and 30mm in August but the deep clay-limestones at Troplong kept their freshness, and there were no blockages in ripening.
Opaque purple-black colored, it opens with a vivacious burst of black fruits—stewed plums, baked blackberries and boysenberries—giving way to a fragrant undercurrent of licorice, ground cloves, cinnamon stick and lilacs, with a touch of bouquet garni. The full-bodied palate is chock-full of plump, juicy black fruits and savory sparks, framed by fantastically ripe, fine-grained tannins and bold freshness, finishing long and opulent.
Technical Details
Blend85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc
WinemakerAymeric de Gironde
CountryFrance
RegionBordeaux
AppellationSaint-Emilion
Alcohol14.5%
PH3.53
Shop All Wines Chateau Troplong Mondot Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020
Chateau Troplong Mondot Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020
This is something special, folks! This fantastic Right Bank Bordeaux nabbed some crazy high scores – exactly one point under the legendary Petrus’ 2020 mark, in fact. This is literally THOUSANDS less than a bottle of Petrus, and we are offering you a unique opportunity to order this wine on pre-arrival and lock in the amazing price of just $104.95!!! Seriously, 24 bottles of this or one single bottle of Petrus, and I know what I’m choosing every single time! The 2020 vintage is shaping up to be beyond spectacular and prices are only going to continue to climb on this beauty!
Troplong’s website proclaims, “Troplong Mondot cannot be explained: It needs to be lived.” Sounds grandiose, we know, but one sip and you’ll simply be blown away! We were and bought every bottle we could from our negoce in France. Sadly, patience is required on this – the wine won’t arrive to our warehouse until early summer 2024. But with a wine this powerful, one that Galloni called “a big, big wine that needs the better part of a decade to soften”, it might actually be for the best to have to wait a year – safely removed from the temptation and urgent desire to open too soon. Especially when the patience locks in the epic pricing that we’re able to get...some things are truly worth the wait!!!
Chateau Troplong Mondot has a long and colorful history in Saint-Emilion that dates back to the 18th century. In those days, what we know as Troplong Mondot was the property of Abbe Raymond de Seze. It was de Seze who created the beautiful chateau that remains at Troplong Mondot today. When the chateau was constructed in 1745, the de Seze family was already established in the Bordeaux wine community. The 2020 marks the best effort yet from the new management under Aymeric de Gironde – all from the great terroir situated on top of the Saint-Emilion limestone and clay plateau and slopes, at the highest point in the appellation.
The critics agree – this is one of the most hedonistic, powerful vintages ever from Troplong, and harkens back to the stunning 1990, a game changer that is still thrilling collectors today. We can’t argue with the gushing praise below. WHAT. A. WINE!
About the Producer
Premier Grand Cru Classe in Saint-Emilion, Chateau Troplong Mondot stands out with refinement, boasting a strong wine identity, a perfectly-controlled vineyard and an innate sense of welcoming. Located on the highest point of Saint-Emilion's famous limestone plateau, the 43-hectare estate held in one piece stands on some of the most enviable and unique terroirs of the Right Bank, with ideal geological conditions and exposure, The unique diversity of the soils is revealed through balanced wines combining strength and elegance, complexity and precision. Troplong Mondot's history has been enriched with charismatic and cultured figures who have led the estate towards excellence with a different vision. By trusting Aymeric de Gironde for the executive management, the company SCOR bring a fresh boost since 2017 while respecting the values and spirit of the estate.
