Chateau Trotanoy 2021

Superb floral aromatics; often of an almost erratic nature, tannins as if carved from a block of rock, with rare depth and perfect proportions. A magnificent, characterful wine in the style of the vintage.

This is silky at first, offering alluring blood orange and raspberry notes laced with rooibos tea, with a subtle mineral hint peeking through. Showing latent length, this puts on considerable weight as it airs in the glass, with dark earth and roasted tobacco notes expanding along with the fruit. Impressive for the vintage. Best from 2026 through 2040. 1,150 cases made, 138 cases imported.

Fresh aromas of blackberries are an enticing entry into a wine with ripe tannins. Clay with iron in the soil gives an important structure and layers of black currant fruits along with tannins. This is a big wine worth aging. Drink from 2028.

Perfumed and vivid nose. Supple and alive, plump yet streamlined, too - the initial bounce of round, ripe fruit straightens and focuses like a laser with cool blue fruits and menthol touches supported by the grippy, salty tannins that keep the mouth full of texture. A serious wine yet nuanced, pure and fresh. Perhaps not the weight you’d usually expect, but this has total charm and really delivers an enjoyable, cellarable wine.

Plum, chocolate, hazelnut and iodine aromas follow through to a medium body with firm and silky tannins and a savory finish. Hints of toasted oak and chocolate to the fruit on the palate. Balanced and classy. Seriously pretty. Trot personality. Give this three or four years to open and show more. Drink after 2025.

The 2021 Trotanoy has one of the best aromatic profiles that I encountered amongst the Pomerols in this season: lovely, vivacious black cherries, wild strawberry, truffle and pencil box aromas that are beautifully defined and focused. This is real class. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, fresh and focused with impressive weight and tension for such a challenging vintage. It takes a really terrible vintage to make a poor Trotanoy, and this is certainly a triumph in the face of adversity.

Chocolate-covered plums, black cherries, flowers, espresso, spice, and licorice create the intense perfume. The palate offers an elegant, firm, classy profile, which is the perfect backdrop for all the ripe, dark, red pit fruits, cocoa, and salty chocolate. There is intensity. vibrancy, and a regal, structure with a long, complex finish here that really works. As I wrote in my barrel tastings, in some ways, this reminds me of the best attributes from previous classic vintages that are now aged into maturity. Drink from 2027-2060.

Intense ruby red with purple reflections towards the rim. Fine red berry nuances, fresh red cherries, cranberries, subtle hints of tobacco, delicate herbal savouriness; an inviting bouquet. Juicy, complex, ripe red cherry fruit, finessed, well-structured, nicely-integrated supporting tannins, salty minerality, an elegant wine with very good length; certainly has ageing potential.

Always a powerful, structured wine, the 2021 Château Trotanoy comes from 7.2 hectares of vines on the southern portion of the appellation and gravelly, clay, and iron-laced soils. All Merlot, it offers a deep ruby/plum hue to go with a medium-bodied, concentrated, inward style as well as classic Trotanoy notes of ripe dark fruits, woodsmoke, iron, and leather. Concentrated, with ripe, polished, yet building tannins, it has a seamless, pure mouthfeel, and a great finish. In comparison to the more round, up-front, and pleasure-bent Fleur-Petrus, this is much more straight, deep, and focused. Give bottles a solid 4-6 years and enjoy over the following two decades.

Kunz cask sample 2022: a concentrated, deep, complex, velvety bouquet with strawberry jelly, candied red berries, toasted hazelnuts, lemon thyme and a delicate hint of nougat. A tightly knit, finely powerful, elegant, multi-layered palate with intense, creamy, refined fruit, lots of very fine tannin, a concentrated structure and a sensational, dense, sweet aromatic profile. Very long, powerful finish with many lingering echoes.

A concentrated, profound, complex, velvety bouquet: strawberry jelly, candied red berries, toasted hazelnuts, lemon thyme, delicate nougat. A tightly knit, subtly powerful, elegant, multi-layered palate with intense, creamy, refined fruit, an abundance of very fine tannins, a concentrated structure, and a sensational, dense, sweet aromatic profile. Very long, powerful finish with many lingering echoes of flavor. 20/20 2030 - 2060

I have been looking forward to retasting this in bottle, because it slightly underwhelmed during En Primeur. Things have definitely filled out through the mid palate, with plenty of grilled blueberry and cassis fruit, black truffles, black tea, olive pit, cocoa bean and crushed rocks. Impressive, subdued but with plenty of life and tannic architecture. An unusual solo-Merlot blend due to vintage conditions. Harvest September 27 to October 4.

The 2021 Trotanoy is 100% Merlot and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It sings of black cherries, mulberries, and fresh plums, soon opening out to reveal hints of lilacs, cinnamon stick, and clove oil. The medium-bodied palate delivers taut, muscular fruit with an approachable backbone of velvety tannins and bags of freshness, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. Very skillfully managed, this is a wonderfully accessible, delicious Trotanoy!

The freshness and elegance of 2021 are particularly well suited to Trotanoy’s monolithic classicism. The result is a bright yet dark-toned fruit profile, with remarkable precision, nuanced by notes of Armenian paper and violet, rounded out by a delicate smokiness and noble peppery accents. The mouthfeel is voluptuous, threaded with citrus freshness and velvety tannins. A wine built for long ageing.

A majestic nose with bluish hues, revealing a sappy, earthy floral character with notes of iris, and a panoply of sumptuous black fruits, creating an aromatic spiral that draws you into its subterranean world. Spellbinding, luscious on the palate, as if you were suspended in a thick fog, with a delectable, sensually granular texture that makes you want to lick the roof of your mouth.

I am always impressed by the serenity that Trotanoy displays year after year, regardless of the vintage. Purity and precision are hallmarks one hesitates to call “common,” even though they are! Above all, they open the door to a world of harmony, charm, delicacy, and the exacting quality standards of this exceptional growth. The tannins, subtly suave and very fine-grained, carry the wine along with an acidic structure that brings energy and freshness. A lingering, convincing, exhilarating wine with excellent aging potential. You just need to have enough patience!

Logo on the cork: JL (Lafitte Liège) Dark, intense, youthful colour. Very aromatic, refined, fruity nose. A hint of pine needles, reminiscent of Pessac Léognan. Silky on the palate, with a round body, fragrant and delicate, less persistent than usual on the finish, but still with real pedigree.

The taster is plunged into a landscape of inscrutable complexity. Trotanoy’s customary reserve is cloaked in a telluric minerality that suits it beautifully. This 2021, despite its restraint, allows it to express its pedigree. The palate is precise and silky, enveloping a sleek, streamlined core—slightly austere at this stage, yet seemingly promising a very graceful evolution. A masterfully crafted wine.