Château Troplong Mondot 2016

The extract-rich, oak-influenced, fiery style that makes this wine unmistakable remains, but it now shows greater freshness, a fruitier character, and first-class tannins without hardness. Pleasing.

Ripe and focused, with a pure, unadulterated beam of raspberry and cherry preserve flavors that is both wide and deep, prettily gilded with a lilting violet note and infused with subtle chalky minerality through the finish. Beautiful. Best from 2023 through 2038.

Ripe, heady, full and rich, with Christmas cake and nutty caramel on the nose. Delicate blue fruits and blackcurrant with textured, chalky, grippy tannins. Concentrated and juicy with a weighty mouthfeel, warm spice lingers on the finish. This wine will only improve with time.

Love the aromas of redcurrants and cherries with flowers. Full body and tight, finely chewy tannins that impress. Linear and focused young red. Try from 2021.

Tasted blind. Spicy and a little bit dangerously evolved on the nose. Could do with more freshness and energy. (JR)

The 2016 Troplong Mondot is fabulous. Powerful, dense and explosive, the 2016 has a lot to say. Super-ripe dark cherry, raspberry jam, chocolate, spice and new oak give the wine much of its lush, exotic feel. The château has moved in a totally different stylistic direction since this wine was made, but there is no denying the 2016 is striking. Tasted two times.

The inky hue in the wine clearly matches the level of concentration in the ripe, dark berries. Add liberal doses of black licorice, smoke, espresso, chocolate and boysenberry, and you have the core of the wine. Powerful, full, rich and with real depth of flavor, give this 10–12 years before popping a cork.

Deep dark ruby, firm core, purple reflections, delicate rim brightening, restrained nose with fine savoury hints of cardamom and cloves, underpinned by blackberry confit and black cherries. Complex, juicy and powerful on the palate, pronounced fruit texture, integrated, supporting tannins, mineral and long, chocolaty finish; sound maturity with clear ageing potential.

High ripeness with inky dark fruit, crème de cassis, prune, smoke, new oak and meaty notes. Very dense and powerful palate with ample dark fruit, smoke, meat, gingerbread spices with a well-preserved freshness, plentiful grainy tannin with a muscular and very long intense finish.

Coming from one of the coolest terroirs in Saint-Emilion, the 2016 Château Troplong Mondot is a blend of 89% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Cabernet Franc brought up in 77% new French oak. This deep purple-hued effort offers a smorgasbord of powerful blue and black fruits, smoked earth, truffle, chocolate, and licorice. Full-bodied, deep, and opulent on the palate, it’s a truly great wine as well as one of the superstars in 2016. It should drink well for upwards of three decades.

Extremely dark purple with a black core and a violet rim. Concentrated bouquet of ripe blueberries and seductive Amarena cherries, followed by mocha cream and elderberry jelly. On the palate, powerful, with a very dense texture and a massive tannic framework, plus ripe plums and spiced cake, as always extracted to the limit. Long finish with blackcurrant jelly and elderberry essence.

Kunz barrel sample 17: concentrated, rich, sweet bouquet, cherry compote, chocolate, caramel. Powerful, broad palate with plush, sweet fruit, brawny structure, plenty of sandy tannins, opulent, dry finish. Has room to improve.

Concentrated, opulent, sweet bouquet of cherry compote, chocolate, caramel. Powerful, broad palate with plush, sweet fruit, a brawny structure, plenty of sandy tannins, opulent, dry finish. Can still improve. 17/20 2024 - 2034

Inky in colour, this is powerful and full of character. Grilled sandalwood oak notes dominate the attack, with bitter almond and cracked black pepper on the finish not just welcome but essential to bring balance. It showcases Troplong’s character: concentrated, powerful, slow-ageing. Tasted both double-decanted and straight from the bottle; again, the double-decanted version gives a better impression of the complexity hidden beneath the waves of concentrated flavour. Needs at least another decade to truly reveal itself. 100% new oak.

The 2016 Troplong Mondot has a deep garnet color. It bursts from the glass with bold notes of plum preserves, blueberry pie, and Black Forest cake, leading to wafts of camphor, violets, and crushed rocks, with a touch of cumin seed. The palate is all-in, full-bodied: a beautiful monster of a wine delivering an explosion of black fruit preserves and exotic spices, matched by a lively spine and super-velvety tannins, finishing long, long, long. One for the hedonists!

The sensuality of an almost sappy black fruit envelops the bouquet, completed by a hint of black fruit coulis, sprinkled with a touch of fresh ink that is more mineral, more engaging. The power of the tannin drives the tasting’s energy, and the cool character of 2016 does it a world of good, especially in the finish, which tightens around the essentials of a chic tannin.

A hint of prune, black fruits, rose, floral. Sappy palate, a bit massive, still tight tannins, vanilla notes, a very long and intense finish.

From the outset, the bouquet promises precision and detail. I sense plenty of fruit and even recognize the aromas you encounter in the cellars during the harvest! On the palate, the wine shows a very convincing serenity. Its power is measured and channeled, and the tannins reveal themselves little by little, in a harmonious and subtle way. A truly great 2016 is taking shape.

Dark, intense, beautiful colour with slight evolution. Moderately aromatic nose with the fruit character of Troplong Mondot as we knew it until now, which will no longer be the same from 2018 onward. Lovely entry on the palate: supple, suave, and immediately melting. The wine caresses, juicy and flavourful, and stretches out on the finish with that oaky note that defined the cru up to that point. Good length. Note that I found it much fresher and juicier en primeur.

This wine has power and a rich character that almost overwhelms. Intense tannins along with dark-chocolate flavors and huge concentration give a massive wine that shows some of the alcohol in its edge of pepper. The wine will calm and soften although it will always remain huge. Drink from 2026.