Chateau Trotanoy 2018

Super nose of dried blueberry, black plum, walnut, myrrh and sandalwood. Lavender, violet, and chocolate, too. Ripe with wood now, but fresh. It’s full-bodied with firm, ultra fine tannins. Lots of dark spice is interlaced with the ripe fruit, giving this complex, perfumed character. Muscular, long and seamless with incredible depth and concentration. Reminds me of the great 2009, but this is better with more structure. Amazing wine. Try from 2027.

Another heavenly Pomerol in the vintage, the 2018 Château Trotanoy checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc brought up in lots of new French oak, although it's certainly not apparent. Revealing a dense purple hue as well as a smorgasbord-like bouquet of blackcurrants, dried flowers, cured meats, violets, tobacco, and chocolate, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a sexy, seductive texture, building yet sweet tannin's, and just a rich, concentrated, yet flawless profile on the palate that's already impossible to resist. Nevertheless, a good 7-8 years of bottle age are warranted, and this magical elixir is going to evolve for 40 years or more.

Medium to deep garnet-purple in colour, it slowly unfurls to reveal a jaw dropping perfume of Black Forest cake, black raspberries, blackberry pie and kirsch, followed by hints of cast-iron pan, violets, woodsmoke, Chinese five spice and eucalyptus, with a waft of tree bark. The full-bodied palate explodes with exotic spice and mineral fireworks, grounded by a concentrated, black and red berry preserves core and framed by firm, grainy tannins, finishing with epic length and depth. It will need a good five years in bottle to tame some of the youthfully overt, showy fruit and allow the mineral and earth nuances to emerge, then it should easily cellar another 35 years or more.

This is powerful and beautiful, pulsating with black fruits, liquorice and confident tannins, it doesn't just walk the line, it owns the line. While it perhaps doesn’t quite have the pure and absolute majesty of 2010, it is another crazy good year for Trotanoy offering an unusually seductive charm along with the power. There’s no question that the vintage was handled with aplomb. There’s not the slightest trace of the warmth of the summer with the feeling that the wine ate it right up just taking what it needed.