Chateau La Mondotte (Futures Pre-Sale) 2022
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Suckling
James - Vinous
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
At the tasting, this wine is deep and charming. The mouth is smooth. It is a round and supple wine, very seductive by its strong fruit aromas and its intense red color. The Merlot gives freshness whereas the Cabernet Franc offers aromatic complexity and length.
Blend: 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blackberries and blueberries with chalkboard and dark earth aromas. Flowers, too. Lead pencil. Full-bodied and very deep in the palate, which is reserved and texturally sophisticated. Chalky, too. Silky and very polished.
Barrel Sample: 97-98
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Vinous
The 2022 La Mondotte is complex, vibrant and beautifully layered. Inky dark fruit, graphite, lavender, dried herbs and bittersweet chocolate abound in a Mondotte that impresses with its energy and vibrancy. A very early start to harvest and a pulled back approach in the cellar yielded a Mondotte that is wonderfully dynamic in its presence. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Decanter
Intensely floral and perfumed, rich, open and generous - quite intense though, smells a bit ripe and alcoholic. Bold but precise, this has a nice depth and density to the plush, ripe blackcurrant and black cherry fruit. Lovely sharp vein, mineral with bite and tang, slightly strict and tense on the one hand but soft, smooth, round and chewy on the other giving a push-pull of power and vibrancy. Clearly concentrated and powerful but holds interest and will age very well. Quite massy but I love the juicy core and raised acidity that gives it life. Mineral, salty, graphite and stony-laced tannins leave the lasting impression creating a moreish aftertaste. Fresh and finessed, but strong, broad and intense. Yield of 45hl/ha. 40% new oak barrels.
Barrel Sample: 96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 La Mondotte is deep and concentrated, unwinding in the glass with brooding aromas of wild berries, licorice, violets and black truffle. Full-bodied, ample and layered, it's deep and youthfully introverted, its concentrated core of fruit girdled by lively acids and sweet, beautifully powdery tannins.
Barrel Sample: (93-95)+
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Wine
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.