Chateau La Mondotte 2017
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The quality of La Mondotte's clay and the age of the vines (60 years on average) result in a wine that is profoundly marked by its terroir. It is silky, powerful, incomparably elegant, and has enormous minerality.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely complex on the nose with blackberries, chili spice, chocolate and fresh walnuts. Full-bodied, tight and very minerally and racy. Steely tannins. Fresh and vivid. Seamless, soft tannins give this form and beauty. Fresh and powerful. Profound. Drink in 2022.
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Wine Spectator
Not shy, this pumps lush, dark plum, cassis and fig fruit forward, backed by contrasting waves of grippy tobacco and licorice snap. Dense and muscular until the finish, when a well-buried chalky minerality begins to emerge, adding refinement and cut. A big style, built for the cellar. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2022 through 2042.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 La Mondotte explodes with beguiling scents of wild blueberries, black raspberries and warm plums plus nuances of lilacs, tilled soil, fallen leaves and iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-filling, crunchy blue and black fruits with a wonderfully plush texture and loads of freshness, finishing long and savory.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 La Mondotte checks in as 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc brought up in 60% new French oak. It's beautifully concentrated yet has a bright spine of acidity as well as plenty of tannins that give it a focused, classic style. Blueberries, black cherries, plums, crushed violets, licorice, and graphite notes all emerge from the glass, and this medium to full-bodied beauty has plenty of ripeness, bright underlying acidity, and a great finish. It's the ripest, most powerful in the lineup, yet still shows the elegance and straight style of the vintage.
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Wine Enthusiast
Based on firm, dry tannins, this wine has a solid, powerful character. It also has layers of beautifully perfumed fruit that enhance the black-currant flavors. The fine tannins need time to soften, so drink from 2024.
Other Vintages
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The vines are an average of 50 years old and the vineyard contains only premium grape varieties (75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc). Ripening, especially of Merlot, is almost invariably early and complete. The terroir, age of the vines, and infinite attention paid to viticulture and oenology, combine to produce truly great wine at La Mondotte. The terroir also confers unparalleled finesse. This rare wine (maximum annual production of just 11,000 bottles) is always in very great demand.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.