Chateau Troplong Mondot 2020

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.

• Drinking Window: 2027 - 2060
• Reviewer Name: William Kelley
• Review Date: April 2023

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.

• Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

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.

• Drinking Window: 2030 - 2060
• Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
• Review Date: February 2023

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.

• Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

A clear step up over the 2019, the 2020 Château Troplong Mondot is mostly Merlot yet includes 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, all of which was raised in 65% new French oak, with the balance in once-used barrels. The level of purity and finesse here is remarkable, and it reveals a deep ruby/purple hue as well as incredible aromatics of cassis, ripe black cherries, graphite, gunpowder, and spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has building, perfectly ripe tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. Certainly light years away from the riper, more opulent style of the 2000's, the wines today under consultant Thomas Duclos are much more about finesse and elegance. While I certainly miss the sexy, riper style of the past, there is no denying the incredible quality from this château today.

• Review Date: May 2021

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. Thomas Duclos consultant, Aymeric de Gironde director. Last vintage before the new cellar was competed. 60% new oak, 3.53ph.

• Reviewer Name: Jane Anson
• Review Date: August 2023

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.

• Reviewer Name: Jeff Leve
• Review Date: May 2021

The 2020 Troplong Mondot has a limpid dark hue. The bouquet is intense with black cherries, red plum, Earl Grey and very subtle floral scents, a mixture of peony and violet. The palate is medium-bodied with very pliant tannins, fine acidity, taut and fresh. With moderate depth, this Troplong possesses impressive salinity, a little powdery texture towards the finish, with a gentle but insistent grip. Black fruit dominates here, chalky and terroir-driven, so you can feel the terroir tingling on the aftertaste. Quite a "serious" Saint-Émilion, it will require half a dozen or so years to show what it is capable of. NB A decanted bottle had more "pixelation" on the finish.

• Drinking Window: 2027 - 2050
• Reviewer Name: Neal Martin
• Review Date: February 2023