Troplong Mondot - 1999

Wine Advocate 89: Elegant vanillin, black cherry, and smoky notes emerge from this textured, medium-bodied 1999. It has a dense ruby/purple color as well as an enormous, concentrated, finesse-styled personality. It is not a blockbuster, but it is a beautifully symmetrical, pure, ripe, well-balanced Troplong Mondot that will benefit from two years of cellaring and age gracefully for 14-15 years.

Vinous 89: The 1999 Troplong Mondot has a fresh bouquet of black currant, lavender, juniper berry and light floral scents. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin and good body but not much complexity. Moderate in terms of freshness, this feels as if it has reached full maturity. The rather rustic, “big-boned” finish delivers grip, if not quite enough flesh. Fine. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the estate.

Wine Advocate 92: The 2007 Troplong-Mondot has long been a Saint Emilion that has surpassed the vintage. It has a sophisticated bouquet with crushed strawberry, fresh mint and subtle gamy aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly grainy tannin on the entry, the fruit a little darker and the personality a little broodier than the Canon-la-Gaffelière, gently fanning out on the almost Pomerol-like finish. Probably à point, but it will give another decade's worth of pleasure. Tasted February 2017.

Wine Advocate 95: The brilliant 2011 Troplong Mondot is one of the superstars of the vintage. The final blend was 89% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, and the wine tips the scales at 14.5% alcohol. Its opaque blue/purple, nearly black color is followed by aromas of blueberry liqueur interwoven with black raspberries, blackberries, licorice, camphor and forest floor. Among the most complete wines of the vintage, with no hollowness, astringency or herbaceousness, this is a tour de force in a challenging vintage. Some tannins are noticeable, but this 2011 is already approachable and should provide delicious, complex drinking over the next two decades. Bravo!

James Suckling 93: This is a muscular wine for the vintage with loads of fruit and tannins, not to mention the new wood. Full body, chewy and intense. Lots of minerals, sweet tobacco and berries. Needs a least three to four years to soften. A big, muscular 2011. 85% merlot, 10% cabernet sauvignon and 5% cabernet franc.

Wine Advocate 98+: 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.

James Suckling 97: A soft and round red with plum and milk chocolate. Hazelnuts. Full-bodied and layered. Juicy. Hints of sea salt. Power is there. Turns firm and vivid. So attractive now. Savory. Needs three to four years to open.

Decanter 100: 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.

Wine Advocate 95: The 2021 Troplong Mondot unwinds in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and plums mingled with violets, exotic spices and smoke. Medium to full-bodied, deep and complete, the wine is layered and complex, with all the depth and authority that one expects from this clay-driven terroir, its concentrated core of fruit underpinned by sweet tannins and lively animating acids, concluding with a long, resonant finish. A blend of 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc with a remarkably low pH of 3.35, it's the first vintage produced in the estate's state-of-the-art new winery.

James Suckling 95-96: Lovely density here with a solid center-palate of fruit and fine tannins. Medium body. Underlying salinity and oyster-shell character in the finish. Well defined. Grows at the end.

Vinous 96: The 2021 Troplong Mondot is fabulous. It offers up a rush of dark red-toned fruit, crushed rocks, leather, menthol, cedar and blood orange. As always, Troplong Mondot is marked by a strong presence of Cabernet Sauvignon that seems to add brooding intensity, muscle and power. I tasted it three times. A bottle given a brief decant of about 20 minutes showed best. The 2021 spent 13 months in oak (two months less than normal), in a mix of 60% new, 21% 20-hectoliter cask and 19% once-used. The 2021 is a Troplong Mondot of extreme purity and class.

Decanter 93: Lovely aromas on the nose - beautifully delicate and fragrant - a touch of cola, blue fruits and salt with green pepper and toasted oak. Smells youthful, taut and lean on the palate but with a gorgeous tannin structure and a delicate yet filling weight. Certainly not plush or heavy, this is refined and focussed - crisp and mouthwatering, excellent energy and sense of life with a delicious moreish liquorice, wet stone finish. Extremely easy to like and super drinkable. They didn't try too hard here, this is a serious, well-constructed wine with depth but no heaviness.

Wine Enthusiast 93: This has floral wildflower aromas. Partial wood aging has produced a wine with light toast and pure acidity. Black-currant flavors are dominant with bright acidity as well as structure. Drink from 2027.