Château Troplong Mondot – 2012 – Saint Emilion 1er Grand Cru Classé B

Red wine here with a very dense colour, almost blue-black at the core, with a purple rim. Fine nose here, quite high ripeness – very high ripeness actually, with dark inky fruit such as blackberry, plum, cassis. We have some fine wood there too, slight smokiness, layers of spices. Very high concentration, but very stylish here; we talk about something very modern and opulent in terms of texture, with layers of that dark fruit, like those dark blackberries, plum but with a well-preserved freshness. There’s plenty of extract, still really youthful but they’re very grainy, like powdery tannins I would say. Well-present acidity as well. Oak is not really noticeable on the palate, I just got some toasted notes rather on the nose, and a hint of that smokiness. So a very meaty and juicy texture with all that fruit. Very long finish, very persistent; keeps lingering, really stays on the palate for a good while. I think this is well-made in a modern style, with a high ripeness, but all along it’s balanced by a natural freshness, fine powdery tannin, and excellent purity of fruit. A wine I think I would happily drink today with something big and meaty like a huge côte de boeuf, but seriously it’s a wine that will age easily for 10, 15, 20, whatever you want years. Excellent.

Tasted by the Best Sommelier of the World, Andreas Larsson.