Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The deep purple, inky-colored 2015 La Mondotte is something to behold and one of the top handful of wines in the vintage, as well as a perfect wine. Coming from an organically farmed 4.5-hectare parcel of clay and limestone soils located behind Pavie Decesse and a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc (it hit 14.5% alcohol), it boasts awesome aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, black licorice, and toasty oak, with building minerality that comes through with time in the glass. It’s incredible on the palate as well and possesses a huge, super-concentrated, yet thrillingly pure, elegant style as well as lots of sweet tannins and a huge finish. It’s a primordial baby at the moment, but wow, what a wine. Give bottles 4-5 years of cellaring and it should keep for two to three decades.
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James Suckling
The aromas of blackberries, iodine, oyster shell, violets and lavender are so impressive. Full-bodied, dense and beautifully balanced and refined. Transparent. Real. True beauty. Nothing adding. Organically grown grapes. Drink in 2023.
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Wine Spectator
This sports a nearly exotic core of fruit, with loganberry, plum, açaí berry and fig notes woven together. Lush on top but supported by a graphite underpinning. Hedonistic at first but shows greater finesse and minerality through the floral- and anise-accented finish. Dense, but pure and tensile. Best from 2020 through 2045. 1,150 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 La Mondotte is a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc picked on 18 September and 7 October respectively, then aged in 80% new oak after a 33-day vatting. It has a dense, opulent and very concentrated bouquet that is driven by the super-intense Merlot, though as I mention in my accompanying introduction, the alcohol is contained and not at all apparent. The palate is very well balanced with rounded, supple tannin. There is a lot of weight in the mouth here, very focused and intense with blackberry and raspberry fruit, fine mineralité and tension, leading to an almost pixelated finish. This is an impressive La Mondotte for sure, though the 2015 Canon la Gaffeliere might offer more intellect. Barrel Sample: 94-96 Points
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Decanter
Pure aromatics. Powerful tannic base but the tannins are ripe and round. Freshness from start to finish so great harmony. Limestone terroir apparent. Tight, firm finish. Restrained power. Now organically certified.
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.