Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The tannins are very fine, with rich fruitcake and smoky flavors. Red berry and black plums give a fruity character, along with delicious acidity. The wine is structured while still remaining very approachable.
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James Suckling
Intense blueberry and blackberry aromas here. Full body, chewy and very rich, with a lovely balance of ripe tannins and spicy finish, with character of nutmeg and cloves. Best ever from here. Try it after 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Tronquoy Lalande, a blend of 51% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Petit Verdot, is the finest wine they have yet produced. It reveals an opulent bouquet of mulberries, blueberries, raspberries and spring flowers, full body, silky tannin, low acidity and a lush, pure mouthfeel. This uncharacteristically round, generous, sumptuous wine should be drinkable early on.
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.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.