2021 Château Trotanoy
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Tasting notes
This has a compact nose with light wood-smoke and milk chocolate aromas from high-quality oak. The tannins are beautifully layered, supple and rounded and with good flesh on the bones without losing the Trotanoy tannic structure. There is plenty of fiery, earthy mineral notes and a long finish. This is elegant Pomerol that has handled the challenging conditions brilliantly. 100% Merlot
Critic scores
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Sweet, opulent, Tertre style. Strong contrast on the nose to the previous wine (La Fleur Petrus) but then it shows some savoury character on the palate. Quite a nice combo! Though still a bit dry on the end. (JR)
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.
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.
About the producer
Château Trotanoy was one of the first recognised Premier Cru sites on the Pomerol plateau, with records dating back to the late 1700s. Even back in the nineteenth century it was seen as the best site in Pomerol second only to Vieux Château Certan.