| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > Pomerol |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
Trotanoy is one of the top names of the Pomerol appellation and is has been made by the Jean-Pierre Moueix company since the 1950's. The 7.2 hectare vineyard is planted with 100% Merlot. Very limited quantities available.
Reminding me a little of the 1998, the 2019 Château Trotanoy is all Merlot sourced from a 7-hectare vineyard planted on dark clay and gravelly soils. A prodigious wine in every way, it offers a serious, dense, powerful, full-bodied style as well as notes of ripe black cherries, damp earth, tobacco, cedar pencil, and graphite. As with the other top wines in the vintage, it has an incredible sense of purity and precision, building, firm tannins, awesome mid-palate depth, and a huge finish. It's not for those seeking instant gratification and is much more structured and backward than I would have thought from barrel. It needs a solid decade of bottle age and will have 40+ years of longevity. It's another brilliant, brilliant wine from this team that I wish every reader could taste.
The 2019 Trotanoy, 100% Merlot, is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs swirling to bring out decadent scents of blueberry preserves and prunes, followed by notes of lavender, star anise, and crushed rocks with a ferrous undercurrent. The full-bodied palate has tons of energy with loads of mineral sparks and a racy line, textured by very fine, ripe tannins, finishing with great length.
Black cherry by the bucket load, muscular and just a little monolithic at this early stage, the standing stone of Pomerol, so effortlessly itself. This really does take its time, but there are waves of flavour that slowly but surely appear. Chiselled black chocolate shavings, smoky espresso, rosemary, pencil lead, truffles and a wall of tannins. A flash of bitter spice on the finish. Harvest September 21, with everything coming in during just one day, 32hl/ha yield, and unusually only Merlot as parts of the vineyard are being replanted. This needs time to unwind, and I may be underestimating how high it will go.
Aromas of peanut brittle, blackberries, crushed stones, violets and blueberries. Full-bodied and powerful with layers of creamy, velvety and juicy tannins. A classic Trotanoy with true character of itself. Wonderful length and character. Best after 2027.
The most powerful wine in the Mouiex portfolio this year is the 2019 Trotanoy, a rich, muscular effort that is also unusually open out of the gates for a young wine from this estate. Offering up aromas of cherries, dark berries, cedarwood, rich spices, sweet soil tones and creamy new oak, it's full-bodied, deep and textural, with a lavish attack, notable concentration and plenty of ripe tannin that asserts itself on the youthfully chewy finish. Drink Date 2029 - 2059
The 2019 Trotanoy offers brambly red fruit and autumn bonfire on the nose, understated at first but gaining intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins and fine acidity. Black pepper infuses the red fruit, harmonious with a clean and precise finish. I admire the manner in which this fans out and it should drink well for 20-30 years. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Tasted blind. Dried fruits on the nose. Lots of freshness on the palate and sweet attack. Really dramatic and unignorable. 15%
Drink 2026– 2042
The harvest took place on September 21st, and is 100% Merlot, which will be aged for 16-18 months in 50% new French oak. Deep ruby purple in the glass with a ripe, sweet nose of poaches plums and dark cherries. The palate is creamy, rich and round, with polished red and black fruits. The oak is well judged, adding subtle sweet vanilla and wood char without dominating the fruit. The tannins are seamless, giving a rounded, cashmere texture. Chocolatey and fleshy on a sumptuous, long finish.
100% Merlot. Barrel sample.
Deep purple-crimson. Massive wine with huge extract but seamlessly contained. Dark, blackcurrant-pastille nose. Masses of dark fruit on the palate offset by a leafy, mineral freshness. Big tannic frame but simultaneously suave and controlled. Just builds and builds. Will definitely make old bones. (JL)
Drink 2030 – 2050
The 2019 Trotanoy is blessed with ineffable delineation on the pure, focused nose, which features touches of pencil lead and sous-bois embroidered through a mélange of red and black fruit. Astounding. The palate is perfectly balanced with seamlessly integrated oak and a cashmere texture, complete and oozing effortless class. I don’t know whether to drink or elope with this Pomerol. Better, perhaps, to stick it away in a cool damp cellar for a decade and then make all your friends jealous when you serve it. A serious contender for wine of the vintage. 2028 - 2060
The deep garnet-purple colored 2019 Trotanoy is 100% Merlot. It storms out of the glass with powerful earth-inspired scents of crushed rocks, fertile loam, iron ore, and truffles with a core of ripe plums and mulberries, plus hints of star anise and candied violets. Full-bodied, super-concentrated, and with a very firm, grainy backbone, the palate delivers compelling texture and a firework display of spices and minerals, finishing with epic length. The absolute epitome of great Pomerol, this is a legendary showing for Trotanoy.
The 2019 Trotanoy was picked on a single day - 21 September and is matured in 50% new oak. Now this has a more backward bouquet than say Hosanna or La Fleur-Pétrus, biding its time before revealing extraordinarily pure black fruit laced with ethereal crushed stone and discrete blood orange scents. It displays astonishing delineation. The palate is utterly harmonious, quite dense yet refined and graceful. Hints of dark chocolate and truffle emerge towards the finish as it fans out gloriously. Quite simply, one of the best Pomerols...again. 2028 - 2060
Wow. So tight with fantastic quality to the exquisite, polished tannins. It’s full-bodied, savory and beautiful. The tannins are nearly perfectly integrated, just melting into the wine. This goes on and on.
The opaque purple-black colored 2019 Trotanoy slowly emerges from the glass with mystic notes of incense, iron ore, woodsmoke, black truffles and fragrant earth, giving way to a powerful core of ripe black plums, black cherry compote and mulberries with hints of graphite, crushed rocks and moss plus an enchanting waft of iris. The medium to full-bodied palate reveals a heart-thumping interplay between profoundly rich black fruit and an incredible array of mineral and floral sparks, supported by firm-yet-approachable ripe, rounded tannins and tons of freshness, finishing on a persistent ferrous note. Just magic.
As is so often the case, a different frame and a different conversation is going on at Trotanoy. It's a little darker fruit than many in the vintage, with firm and plentiful tannins, really knitted down cassis and bilberry that opens up through the palate and adds on layers of earth, slate, liquorice, coffee and chocolate, but all holding themselves back, content to be subtle hints at this stage of the process. Hard to argue with. A yield of 32hl/ha. Unusually 100% Merlot. Drinking Window 2027 - 2048
