2005 Château Trotte Vieille
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Tasting notes
Saline smack and a grippy slate texture from the first moments, this majors on extreme limestone signature, and took its time to soften. Today you'll find a juicy, powerful, beautifully balanced wine with silky tannins, black cherry and blackberry fruit, waves of orange peel, coffee and soft leather, hitting it out of the park. Great vintage character, will age for decades from now, love it. 100% new oak.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Magnum. But quire an advanced colour. Ruby with an evolved rim. Sweet start and slightly dusty finish. Not too pastiche-like. Rather old fashioned in fact – and I'd guess the yield wasn't that low. Fresh but not that ambitious. (JR)
Tasted blind. Not much nose. Round and flinty and interesting on the nose but decidedly dry on the end still. (JR)
Magnum. Mid lively crimson with a ruby rim. An initial inspection of the base of the bottle shows no sign of sediment. Reticent nose of ripe fruit and some charcoal. Some fine tannin and quite a bit of acidity. This is still quite tightly wound so I shall decant it before serving in three to four hours' time. More classic than anything OTT right banky. But not that exuberant. I will try to come back and add my impressions of it later – and possibly re-score it. Later: This relaxed and opened out to be really rather charming – though arguably with more obvious Cabernet than Merlot, so I upgraded it from 16.5+ to 17! (JR)
About the producer
Owned by the Castéja family (of Ch. Batailley), this estate is home to some of the region’s oldest Cabernet Franc vines – with some pre-phylloxera plantings that are over 150 years old.