November 17, 2025
One of Saint Emilion’s Great Terroirs: Troplong Mondot 2020 hits 100-Points
2020 Troplong Mondot 2020 - A new era for one of Saint Emilion’s Great Terroirs
If, like us, you love finding wines that truly overdeliver for their region, then this next one should catch your attention.
100 Points - Decanter
“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 […] An absolute beauty."
Few estates in Bordeaux have changed as dramatically as Troplong Mondot. Since Aymeric de Gironde arrived after the 2017 harvest, the style has moved from sheer power to something far more refined, with greater finesse, precision and a much clearer sense of its remarkable terroir. You may already know his work from elsewhere, as he was previously head winemaker at Cos d’Estournel and made the outstanding 2016, arguably the estate’s finest modern vintage. In just a few years, Troplong Mondot has become a true benchmark for contemporary Saint Emilion.
A Grand Terroir Reimagined
Troplong Mondot sits at the crest of Saint Emilion, anchored by a rare twelve metre dome of deep blue clay that has never been eroded, giving the wines a natural mix of richness and freshness. The estate stretches from forty to one hundred and ten metres in elevation, with exposures that wrap almost to the edge of the medieval town, creating striking diversity. Jane Anson highlights its thicker clay over limestone as one of the appellation’s most privileged and naturally powerful sites, a terroir that ripens later and delivers remarkable intensity and complexity in the glass.
The De Gironde Revolution
William Kelley of The Wine Advocate has been one of the clearest voices documenting Troplong Mondot’s transformation, noting that few Bordeaux estates have evolved so profoundly in such a short period. Aymeric de Gironde’s first priority was to revive the soils, opening the compacted blue clays through horse ploughing and cover crops. Vineyard work became far more measured, with harvesting spread over a wider window to avoid the over-ripeness that once shaped the style.
Equally important were the changes in the cellar. Malolactic fermentation now happens in tank rather than barrel to preserve purity and vibrancy, and new oak is used with a lighter hand, allowing fruit and terroir to take the lead. The estate now favours gentle extraction and a focus on texture rather than sheer weight. The results are striking. While Troplong Mondot will always carry natural power, recent vintages show that power refined with finesse is far more compelling, with 2019, 2020 and 2022 marking a clear leap in precision, aromatic range and structural harmony.
A newfound success
The recent wines make it clear that Troplong Mondot has joined the top tier of Right Bank terroirs. Critics who once found the style too much now talk about its lift, brightness and expression of place.
What makes it exciting is that Troplong now sits comfortably beside the best limestone-driven estates of Saint Emilion, yet keeps the depth and individuality that come from its clay-rich summit. It’s rare to see this level of clarity and finesse in a wine of such natural power. Rarer still to see the change happen this quickly.
*Table accurate as of the blog publication date and may be subject to change
In the 2020 vintage, Decanter awarded only five wines a perfect 100 points, and Troplong Mondot was among them, outscoring even Lafite and Cheval Blanc, which is no small achievement. Costing only a fraction of those grand vins, Troplong Mondot is clearly holding its own at the very top.
To help you get acquainted with the estate, we have a special offer this week at €79.50* In Bond per bottle. This is one of those moments where the stars align, so if Troplong has been on your radar, now is the time to dive in.
Troplong Mondot 2020
€79.50* In Bond per bottle
100 Points | Decanter
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.
98+ Points | Wine Advocate, William Kelley
The 2020 Troplong Mondot may prove to be even better than the brilliant 2019, and it is one of the Right Bank's finest wines in this vintage. Unwinding in the glass with deep aromas of mulberries, blackberries and red cherries mingled with hints of rose petal, licorice and exotic spices, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a satiny attack that segues into a vibrant, polished mid-palate, concluding with a long, resonant finish. Having seen only 65% new oak and with malolactic fermentation completed in tank rather than in barrel, it's remarkably pure and seamless. With the 2020 vintage, this estate's stylistic redemption appears to be complete.
98+ Points | The Wine Independent
The 2020 Troplong Mondot is deep garnet in color. It is quite closed, offering glimpses at stewed plums and fresh boysenberries, before opening out to expressive scents of dark chocolate, rose oil, and tilled soil, plus a touch of mint tea. The palate is full, super-concentrated, fine, and tightly wound, with grainy tannins and great freshness, finishing long and minerally.
98 Points | Vinous - Antonio Galloni
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 in 60% new oak, 12% foudres 28% once-used barrels.
*Prices are accurate as of the blog publication date and may be subject to change.