Vinous
par Antonio Galloni le 18/06/2020
The 2019 Mondot is racy and voluptuous to the core. Sweet red cherry, plum, spice, blood orange and floral notes give the 2019 lovely brightness to play off the radiant fruit. Medium in body and perfumed, with plenty of textural richness, Mondot is a gorgeous second wine. The 2019 Mondot is 100% Merlot from soils on limestone from the former Clos La Barde, which Troplong Mondot acquired in 2018. Aging is in neutral oak. Troplong Mondot has undergone a radical transformation since 2017 under the stewardship of Managing Director Aymeric de Gironde. Today, picking is earlier, there is greater focus on a parcel by parcel approach at harvest, no SO2 is used until barreling down, and for the first time, none of the malolactic fermentation was done in oak. Harvest took place from September 10 through October 7. De Gironde was among the managers who reported clusters of uneven ripeness, but added he is more comfortable with that than he might have been a few years ago, a way of thinking that is becoming more common in Bordeaux. In tasting, Troplong Mondot remains a big, broad-shouldered Saint-Émilion, but now it also has more energy and vibrancy than in the past.