Winemaker Notes
Beautiful shiny red colour with beautiful purple reflections. The elegant and complex nose reveals notes of red fruits and subtle woody hints. The palate is full body with a nice acidity and a persistent length.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a delicious red with ripe plums and chocolate with some hazelnuts and spices. Full-bodied, dense and layered. Shows excellent depth and flavor. Same quality as the excellent 2016. A blend of 55% merlot, 37% cabernet sauvignon, 6% petit verdot and 2% cabernet franc. Better after 2021.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 55% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Tronquoy-Lalande races out of the glass with bright, exuberant scents of Morello cherries, mulberries, warm plums and fresh blackcurrants plus touches of allspice, candied violets and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is laden with expressive black and red fruits plus loads of floral accents and a wonderfully plush texture, finishing long and fragrant. Drinking Window : 2022 - 2045.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Chateau Tronquoy-Lalande comes from the northern part of the Medoc and is made by the team at Chateau Montrose. Based on 55% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, and the balance Cabernet Franc, it’s a balanced, medium-bodied effort that has classy cherry and currant fruits as well as ample damp earth, spice, and sappy herb nuances. With ripe tannins, good acidity, and the straight, classic style of the vintage, it's going to evolve nicely for 15-20 years or more.
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.