Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Black liquorice really quite strong on the nose with tobacco and spice. The palate is equally rich and full, brimming with textured ripe tannins, thick strawberry and cherry fruit, dashes of plum, date and fig giving warmth from the vintage with a full body. Tannins are a mixture between chalky, straight and fleshy, so there's lots of textural nuance here. It's confident for sure, lacking a little grace, but well structured, forward and intense. The acidity is lovely though and really does well to lift the expression and give a salty tang to the finish. This definitely has charm with touches of sweetness and acidity that are moreish. Leaves a lingering impression. A lot of wine but manages to keep a straight direction and good forward motion. More of an attack than the 2006.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Owned by the Castéja family, Trottevieille has one parcel of some of the oldest vines in St.-Emilion. Dense purple, the 2005 is better at age 10 then earlier. The wine has beautiful blueberry, plum and blackcurrant fruit, an attractive underlying minerality, medium to full body, sweet tannin, and a long, layered, complex finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This sleeping beauty of a chateau is showing signs of awakening. With its great terroir, it deserves to make wine like this 2005, dense, perfumed, very ripe, powered with sweet, purple fruit and juicy flavors. It will develop relatively quickly, but then should age over many years.
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Wine Spectator
Aromas of licorice, lavender, violet and mineral follow through to a full body, with fine tannins and a coffee, berry and light toasty oak aftertaste. Balanced and refined.
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.