This was a trainwreck of a vertical tasting. An average of meager 86.8 pts, only 6 wines with a rating of more than 90pts. Almost all wines pre 2017 and a winemaker/style change have dried out. Too much extraction and heavy oak treatment produced wines that did not age well, have no fruit and charm left. I don’t have group ratings but the sentiment in the room was similar (this was the fastest tasting ever with this group). It was a root day but that can’t explain everything. Also, the provenance or storage of the bottles was no issue (all bought En Primeur, stored perfectly since). Troplong Mondot seems to be a victim of a series of bad choices, mainly the wrong consultant. Luckily, the future looks brighter due to chnges in the approach.
Tasting Notes
Flight 1
1988 Château Troplong Mondot, 86 Points
Medium+ expressive nose with dark ripe fruit and some wet earth. The attack shows quite nice with fresh dark berries, some earthy notes, autumn leaves. Fine but still noticeable tannins, medium+ acidity. The problem starts mid palate with drying tannins and not much substance.
1990 Château Troplong Mondot, 89 Points
Medium- expressive nose with ripe dark red berries, some green hints. On the palate pleasantly ripe dark berries, not too tipe, some green hints, some slight hints of chocolate. Not too complex but well delineated. Fairly round but not velvety, missing a bit of charm but with good freshness. Only slightly drying and certainly one of the better wines. Maybe on a good day, this can be a 90-93 pts wine.
1993 Château Troplong Mondot, 86 Points
Medium expressive nose with slightly sugary black fruits, some tiny hints of chocolate and a bit of smoke and minerality. On the palate fresh, round and with fresh dark berries which quickly disappear. Then mostly green and woody notes remain. A bit simple and drying out towards the finish.
1994 Château Troplong Mondot, Flawed
This showed slightly faulty, green-ish and had some hints of TCA (cork taint).
Flight 2
1995 Château Troplong Mondot, 88 Points
Medium- expressive nose. On the palate ripe dark fruit, earthy notes, crushed rocks and some green woody notes. Slightly rying toward the finish. Overall, no winner but not faulty.
1997 Château Troplong Mondot, 80 Points
Not overly extrovert on the nose. The palate shows astringent, woody and dry from start to finish. Very weak with no fruit left. 80 pts is as low as I go but feels generous here.
1998 Château Troplong Mondot, 91 Points
Not very well-defined nose expression. On the palate better with some creamy red berries mixing with dark ripe berries but only on the attack, then mostly woody notes. Still, a bit of charm, fruit and a velvety texture through the mid palate, good freshness. Overall, so far the best wine in the vertical. Others liked it less than me.
1999 Château Troplong Mondot, 85 Points
Shy nose with ripe dark berries and crushed rocks. Not overly exciting. On the palate this shows a good ripe dark fruit attack with a touch of creaminess but the the oak notes take over. No winner either.
Late picked, over-extracted and over-oaked wines are prone to premature oxidation problems, find Jane Anson and Denis Dubordieu in Decanter
Flight 3
2000 Château Troplong Mondot, 85 Points
Not overly expressive nose. More showing on the palate with ripe dark fruit, hints of chocolate and herbs. But drying and alcoholic. Nothing to write home about.
2003 Château Troplong Mondot, 85 Points
Not much on the nose. On the palate this is rather short and drying. There is a bit more mid palate weight than in others and some fruit is there but it is still not good with alcohol showing and a drying finish.
2005 Château Troplong Mondot, 91 Points
Medium expressive nose with ripe dark berries. On the palate there is a lot of ripe dark berries, some earthy and chocolate notes. A bit velvety texture good freshness and not drying out. The first decent wine in the vertical which is not already dead or half dead. But it is slightly too ripe and shows alcohol (I‘m quite sensible to that, not everybody at the table noticed the alcohol.
2006 Château Troplong Mondot, 80 Points
Not much on the nose. Not much more than wood on the palate. Not very interesting. 80 is as low as I go.
Aromas with increasing ripeness. Source: IVES Technical Reviews
Flight 4
2007 Château Troplong Mondot, 80 Points
No nose. No fruit left. Just wood and drying tannins. Yak. 80 is too generous for such a wine.
2009 Château Troplong Mondot, 89 Points
Not much expression on the nose. With time, however, truffles come forward. Ripe but not too ripe dark fruit and also some blue berries from the attack towards the medium long finish. Some hints of chocolate. Fairly fine tannins, good freshness but slightly drying overall and with alcohol showing.
2010 Château Troplong Mondot, 87 Points
A bit truffles and ripe dark red fruit on the nose. On the palate wild and slightly disjointed with green woody notes and some ripe but quickly disappearing dark fruit. Very much drying out quickly. Others liked it more.
2014 Château Troplong Mondot, 91 Points
Fine dark fruited nose, slightly sugary. Best nose so far. On the palate this is ripe but slightly alcoholic. With a good velvety texture, quite round and good. Not as drying out as most others. Others found it very drying though.
Flight 5
2015 Château Troplong Mondot, 89 Points
Expressive dark fruit and blue fruit nose. On the palate still a bit hot but with fresh blue and black fruit to balance. A tiny bit drying towards the finish. But overall pleasant. I don’t think this will have a long life. Drink up.
2017 Château Troplong Mondot, 92 Points
Slightly truffly nose with dark red fruit, quite ripe to complement. A bit hollow mid palate but its not too ripe, not too drying. But not too interesting either.
2018 Château Troplong Mondot, 92 Points
Expressive nose of ripe dark fruit, dark red berries. On the palate expressive and round with dark red and black fruit, hints of truffle. A bit of oak. Fine tannins, good freshness but there is slightly drying finish.
2019 Château Troplong Mondot, 93 Points
A bit hot on the nose but with ripe blue and black fruit. On the palate very sweet, cigary but at the same time fresh black and blue fruit. Round and harmonious, no wood dominating. Not too long, though. But overall, the best wine of the bunch.
Author: Andy Schnyder
November 2022