2022 - Troplong Mondot, Saint-Emilion

The 2022 Troplong Mondot has turned out brilliantly in bottle. Wafting from the glass with aromas of mulberries and blackberries mingled with notions of licorice, rose petals, incense and pencil shavings, it's full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with huge mid-palate volume, superb integration and an ineffable sense of completeness. This site always delivers power, but I've never tasted a Troplong that's simultaneously quite so powerful or quite so harmonious and suave. Concluding with a broad, violet-inflected finish, the 2022 represents the essence of this remarkable site.

This is 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, and the élevage was in 55% new oak, the rest divided between 20-hectolitre foudre s and second-fill barrels, the aim being to move to only new oak barrels and foudre s. The nose is pure, focused and beautifully expressive, with fresh blackberry, black violets, rosehips, acacia flowers and black pepper. Truly juicy and captivating on the palate, with dark currant and blackberry fruits, with a sinewy and liquorice-laced frame, dark and draped over a frame of ripe tannins. This is beautifully textured but also vigorous and filled with energy and vigour, with driven acidity as well as a frame of highly polished tannins. Intense, driven and long in the finish, which is complex and filled with black fruits, crushed limestone and pepper. A simply stunning Troplong-Mondot, which has a little bit of everything, all working in harmony, just a touch of cherry liqueur which perhaps reflects the degree of maturity here. All the same, this is surely the best Troplong-Mondot Aymeric has made. The alcohol on the label will, I am told, will be 15%, as with the second wine.

Smooth, stately, rich, powerful, this is just full of delight, rose petals, orange peel, orange flower water, cocoa bean, flint, graphite, fennel, chalk, harnessing the complexity of these 360-degree-orientated soils. Get the precision and the skilful winemaking coming through in the glass. Clearly needs time to age, full of architectural prowess. A brilliant reminder that terroir in certain spots in undeniable, and makes itself felt even with all of the changes put in by the new owners since 2017. Thomas Duclos. A touch of whole bunch fermentation, no fining, low filtration. 55% new oak, 25% oak casks, 25% of one year, 1st year with wax closure for Troplong first wine. Remi Monribot cellar master, Aymeric de Gironde director

The 2022 Troplong Mondot has more high-toned black fruit on the nose, a veneer of creamy oak to peer through, but it seems proportionate to the fruit. Blackcurrant and raspberry coulis, with light violet scents. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, granular in texture, with cedar and allspice emerging towards quite a complex finish. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.Fragrant and fine with red-fruit and liquorice notes. An impressive amount of juicy fruit on the palate, the tannins plentiful but silky and smooth. Builds on the palate providing a long, fresh, chalky finish. Elegant and harmonious. (JL)