2004 Château Troplong Mondot, St Emilion, Bordeaux

2004 Château Troplong Mondot, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Product: 20048015141
 
2004 Château Troplong Mondot, St Emilion, Bordeaux

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Description

Since the mid-1980s, when Michel Rolland began overseeing the winemaking and owner Christine Valette increased her control, Troplong-Mondot's wines have been 1er Grand Cru Classé quality - the 2004, a blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, is no exception. Displaying a flamboyant nose of sweet, jammy fruit (plums, cherries and blackberries), this wine is initially more demure on the palate, but then the enticing ripe fruit flavours explode in the mouth. The structure is seamless and the finish soft and gentle with round tannins but still plenty of pure, fresh fruit.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate89+/100
Sweet cherry, white chocolate, black currant, and crushed rock-like characteristics are present in this medium-bodied St.-Emilion. Excellent richness, spicy tannin, and hints of underbrush and herbs in the finish result in an excellent rather than brilliant Troplong-Mondot that must take a back seat to their other-worldly 2005 and impressively endowed 2006. Give it 2-4 years, and it could have outstanding potential.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 29/06/2007 Read more
Decanter
"Refined aromas, rich fruit held in check by confident tannins. Meaty, engaging, it has much to offer. 6-16 years"
4 stars- Decanter, Wines of the Year- December 07 Read more

About this WINE

Château Troplong Mondot

Château Troplong Mondot

Château Troplong Mondot is a St. Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé property that has in the last decade been producing wines that are the equal of many 1er Grand Cru Classé estates. Its handsome château dates back to 1745 and Troplong-Mondot was originally part of one sizeable domaine which included the vineyards of Château Pavie. It became autonomous in 1850 when it was acquired by Raymond Troplong. Later on, it was bought by Alexandre Valette and today it is owned and run by his great-granddaughter, Christine and her husband Xavier Pariente.

Troplong Mondot has 30 hectares of vineyards well-sited alongside the hill of Mondot to the north-east of the St-Emilion appellation. The soils are rich in limestone clay and are planted with Merlot (90%), Cabernet Franc (5%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (5%). The grapes are hand-harvested and then fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks. The wine is then aged in oak barriques (75% new) for 18 months. It is bottled unfiltered.

Guru oenologist Michel Rolland has been a consultant at Troplong Mondot since the mid 1980s.

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St Émilion

St Émilion

St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. 

St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel. 

Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol.  Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.  

In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices.  The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.

St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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