The 2016 Troplong Mondot has a deep garnet color. It bursts from the glass with bold notions of plum preserves, blueberry pie, and Black Forest cake, leading to wafts of camphor, violets, and crushed rocks, with a touch of cumin seed. The palate is full-on, full-bodied: a beautiful monster of a wine delivering an explosion of black fruit preserves and exotic spices, matched by a lively line and super-velvety tannins, finishing long, long, long. One for the hedonists!
98 points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent (Feb 2024)
Coming from one of the coolest terroirs in Saint-Emilion, the 2016 Château Troplong Mondot is a blend of 89% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Cabernet Franc brought up in 77% new French oak. This deep purple-hued effort offers a smorgasbord of powerful blue and black fruits, smoked earth, truffle, chocolate, and licorice. Full-bodied, deep, and opulent on the palate, it’s a truly great wine as well as one of the superstars in 2016. It should drink well for upwards of three decades.
97 points, Jeb Dunnuck (Feb 2019)
Inky depths to the colour, this is powerful, full of character. Grilled sandalwood oak notes are dominant on the attack, with the bitter almond and cracked black pepper on the finish not just welcome but essential to balance things out. Showcases the character of Troplong - concentrated, powerful, slow-ageing. Served both double decanted and a straight from bottle, and again the double decanted gives you a better impression of the complexity that is hidden within the waves of concentrated flavour. Needs another decade at least to really reveal itself. 100% new oak.
97 points, Jane Anson (Jul 2022)
The 2016 Troplong Mondot is fabulous. Powerful, dense and explosive, the 2016 has a lot to say. Super-ripe dark cherry, raspberry jam, chocolate, spice and new oak give the wine much of its lush, exotic feel. The château has moved in a totally different stylistic direction since this wine was made, but there is no denying the 2016 is striking. Tasted two times.
96 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Jan 2019)
Love the aromas of redcurrants and cherries with flowers. Full body and tight, finely chewy tannins that impress. Linear and focused young red. Try from 2021.
96 points, James Suckling (Jan 2019)