Troplong Mondot 2018 (750ML)

98 JS / 97 VM / 97 WI / 96 JD / 96 WA / 96 WE / 95 DE / 95 JA / 18 JR

This is a very linear red and layered at the same time, showing blackberry, blueberry, black-truffle, bark and stone character. Chalk and minerality, too. It’s full-bodied and well framed with gorgeous intensity and freshness. Muscular with wonderful structure and brightness. Salty and savory notes on the finish. Try after 2024.-James Suckling

The 2018 Troplong Mondot will take readers who haven't tasted these wines in a few years aback. Stunning in its aromatic presence, the 2018 is silky, medium-in body and super-refined. Once again, I am blown away by the wine's total sense of precision. The Cabernets are only 15% of the blend, and yet the 2018 is so strongly marked by floral and savory accents. Sweet red cherry, blood orange, mint, rose petal and lavender all build in the glass. The 2018 is regal, refined and absolutely exquisite. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

The 2018 Troplong Mondot is deep garnet-colored. It hops playfully from the glass with notes of juicy plums, fresh blueberries, and kirsch, leading to hints of cinnamon stick, allspice, and lilacs. Full-bodied, vivacious, and refreshing, the palate delivers plush tannins and bags of bright fruit, finishing with great length and a real skip in its step.-Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

The 2018 Château Troplong Mondot showed beautifully. Based on 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it reveals a dense purple color as well as ripe beautiful aromatics of black cherries, red plums, graphite, espresso, Asian spices, and gravelly earth. Beautiful on the palate as well, it's medium to full-bodied and has a rounded, expansive texture, plenty of mid-palate depth, building tannins, and present yet integrated oak. This classic, impressive Troplong Mondot will need 5-7 years of bottle age but will evolve for 30 years or more. - Jeb Dunnuck

The 2018 Troplong Mondot is blended of 85% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, with 15% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple colored, with considerable coaxing and swirling it slowly emerges from the glass like a waking giant, building to a towering bouquet of preserved plums, blueberry pie and Morello cherries with gentler wafts of violets, star anise, fruitcake and cast-iron pan. The concentrated, full-bodied palate possesses impressive purity and brightness of fruit commingled with richer, riper elements and supported by firm, velvety tannins, finishing with lovely freshness and on a lingering ferrous note. It's a wine that's not just delicious, it's seriously interesting too. -Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate

95–97. Barrel Sample. The tannins are beautifully integrated into this velvet-textured wine. It has density and richness allied to concentration. At the same time, it has kept wonderful freshness and acidity to give it fine lift. The aging potential is obvious. - Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast

This is a dense and profound wine, but it’s a little shy aromatically at present. The palate is juicy and well constituted with attractive volume, beautiful texture, silky tannins and an unreserved but unaggressive power behind. The finish is firm and persistent. Despite the alcohol, everything is balanced and contained. Aged in 60% new oak barrels - James Lawther MW, Decanter

A powerful vintage, making this a real test of the 'new regime' at Troplong. You can feel the power struggle between rich ripe fruit, liqourice and cocoa bean against fresher strands of eucalyptus, rosemary, turmeric and sage, and the push-and-pull of this combat makes for a fascinating wine. Delivers shape and momentum, and brings in a much-needed shot of fresh mint and aloe juice on the finish. A wine with power, impact and architecture, buoyed up rather than weighed down by tannic structure and ripe fruit. 60% new oak, Thomas Duclos consultant. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Vivid plum fruit with black cherry with a baked edge but incredible freshness and wonderfully charming persistence. Very smooth-coated. Feathery tannins, full body, ripe and garrulous. Long, flamboyant – pure pleasure. (RH) - Jancis Robinson