2022 Château Trotte Vieille

The 2022 Trotte Vieille takes time to cohere on the nose, with scents of red fruit, black olive, violet and liquorice, though it meliorates in the glass and finds more and more refinement. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine tannins, spicy and peppery, well integrated oak and a concentrated finish that will require time. I believe this will come good in the end and represents one of the finest wines from this underestimated estate in recent years. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

Coming from a terrific terroir on the upper plateau, just east of the village of Saint-Emilion, the 2022 Château Trotte Vieille checks in as 50% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a powerful, concentrated 2022 yet it never puts a foot wrong, offering remarkable purity in its red and black fruits as well as aromatics of scorched earth, baking spices, licorice, and woodsmoke. With medium to full-bodied richness, present yet nicely integrated oak, ripe tannins, and outstanding length, it deserves 5-7 years of bottle age and will drink beautifully over the following two decades. It's another legit, beautiful Saint-Emilion in the vintage. While I wasn't able to taste this during my trip through Bordeaux, I subsequently purchased a bottle locally to review.

The 2022 Trotte Vieille, the second vintage made in the new cellar, offers a wonderfully delineated bouquet of mineral-infused black fruit, touches of blood orange and a liberal sprinkling of white pepper. The medium-bodied palate features crisp, taut tannins and plenty of blueberry-laced black fruit, leading to a vibrant, peppery finish that lingers long in the mouth. This wine is within a hair's width of the Right Bank "big boys," but it probably represents the best value of them all.