Continuing our ‘Meet the Château’ series, we head to the Right Bank, to Château Troplong Mondot in Saint-Emilion. Part of our ground-breaking Bordeaux Collection, Troplong Mondot is one of the 14 Premier Grand Cru Classé in the region.
Saint-Emilion
Troplong Mondot is one of the best of the region – and considered a rising star. The appellation was first officially classified in 1955, and is regularly amended – with the most recent revision of the classification in 2022. Saint-Emilion is one of Bordeaux’s largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St-Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together.
The view on Saint-Emilion
Quoting Jane Anson’s summary of Saint-Emilion in her masterful ‘Inside Bordeaux’ book: “Stunning and frustrating in equal measure, this appellation’s wines vary from fragrant and delicate, to austere and thrillingly mineral, to voluptuous, powerful and heavily oaked. It’s hard to think of any region in the Bordeaux with quite so many different styles, partly due to terroir and partly due to winemaking choices.”
The place
Chosen as one of Jane’s ‘Châteaux to watch’, Troplong Mondot has been around since the 17th century, first owned by Abbé Raymond de Sèze, then by Raymond Troplong. Bought in 2017 by SCOR insurance company from the Valette family, the château is now managed by Aymeric de Gironde (previously from Cos d’Estournel), with consultant Thomas Duclos replacing Michel Rolland.
Settled upon the hilltop of Mondot, the château’s terroir is quite unlike any other. On the one side flows soft wave-like sweeping hills. On the other, the valley and the village of Saint-Emilion. And all around, vines, bushes, hedges, lanes and low stone walls.
The preservation of biodiversity is both an ancient and present concern for the estate. “Taking care of nature is instilled in Troplong Mondot’s philosophy, essential for bringing out its best,” their website notes.
“The terroir is unarguable, planted all around the estate, giving a multitude of exposures, and particularly noteworthy in that it has a thicker layer of clay covering the limestone than you will find on the other side of the village at estates such as Canon and Belair,” writes Jane Anson. “It means this is a later-ripening terroir, and a little cooler. And extremely powerful, naturally.”
To really understand the unique location and terroir of the estate, take a look at this video:
Changing faces – and features
A lot has changed at Troplong Mondot since 2017, including its style and image. “The arrival of de Gironde, and the changing of consultant to Duclos, has seen a dramatic escalation of this sculpting of the style, and a more evident respect for the powerful terroir that does not need to be overly dressed up,” Jane notes.
Over the last few years in Bordeaux, there has been a huge amount of investment, and a flurry of new cellars being built – as Rose Saunders wrote in issue 13 of Fine Lees.
“Troplong Mondot has not only renovated the winemaking facilities, but also spent two years revamping their Michelin-starred restaurant Les Belles Perdrix,” Rose writes. “De Gironde, who took over as chairman in late 2017, is very keen to improve the wine hospitality in Saint-Emilion, and has used Paris-based designer Bruno Moinard to design both the restaurant and the new winemaking facilities. They also have four rooms available for overnight stays, and four different discovery tours.”
“High precision blending is another quality improvement that seems to be at the forefront of renovations in Bordeaux. Troplong Mondot have replaced their large vats with 40 stainless steel, conical-shaped vats that allow them to work parcel by parcel.”
Other recent changes include moving the harvest dates forward, while downscaling the amount of new barrels being used. Another change, “in a nod to Aymeric’s Left Bank experience,” Jane writes, is to now blend before ageing in barrel.
The wines
Château Troplong Mondot generally consists of 85% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. Hand-harvested and then fermented in temperature controlled, stainless steel tanks, the wine is aged in oak barriques (75% new) for 18 months.
We currently have the below Troplong Mondot vintages available in the Bordeaux Collection:
Chateau Troplong Mondot 2006
Mondot de Chateau Troplong Mondot 2011
Get in touch at finewinetrade@bibendum.co.uk for more information or to order any of these wines.
To find out more about Troplong Mondot, take a look at this video from the estate.
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Elona Hesseling
Born into the world of wine, Elona grew up on a wine farm in South Africa. After graduating from the University of Stellenbosch with a degree in Viticulture and Oenology, she completed a couple of harvests before joining South Africa’s producer-focused magazine WineLand as journalist. A move to London meant a new adventure and Elona joined Bibendum’s marketing team to head up brand communications.