Winemaker Notes
Blend: 49% Cabernet Franc, 48% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon
The Barrel Sample for this wine is above 14% ABV.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas and flavors of dark fruit, plums, mushrooms, pine cones, cedar and tile. Full-bodied, yet reserved, with ultra-fine tannins that spread across the palate. So layered and beautiful. Hints of crushed stone and deep earth on the finish. Steely at the end. Give this time.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is going to be a great vintage for this Premier Grand Cru Classé estate. The tannins give it a dry core, lending a serious character to the wine's black currant flavors. It shows great aging potential.
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Gorgeously pure notes of blue fruits, violets, spring flowers, and graphite emerge from the 2019 Château Trotte Vieille, a silky, concentrated, sensational Saint-Emilion. Clearly the finest vintage from this château I've tasted, it's medium to full-bodied, has a layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. It's a "wow" wine in the vintage that can be drunk today or cellared for two decades. Bravo! Best After 2022
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of cherries, sweet berries and plums, framed by notions of raw cocoa, loamy soil, spices and licorice, introduce the 2019 Trotte Vieille, a medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy wine that's broad, textural and enveloping, built around succulent acids and ripe, powdery tannins that gently assert themselves on the finish. Best after 2025. Rating: 93+
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Wine Spectator
This delivers a very forthright beam of dark currant, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that show a distinct roasted edge, while singed tobacco leaf, juniper and cedar notes fill in through the finish. A touch austere in the end, though there's depth and length here. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2024.
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.