Château Troplong Mondot St Emilion Grand Cru Premier Grand Cru Classé 2018

A powerful vintage, making this a real test of the ‘new regime’ at Troplong. You can feel the power struggle between rich ripe fruit, liqourice and cocoa bean against fresher strands of eucalyptus, rosemary, turmeric and sage, and the push-and-pull of this combat makes for a fascinating wine. Delivers shape and momentum, and brings in a much-needed shot of fresh mint and aloe juice on the finish. A wine with power, impact and architecture, buoyed up rather than weighed down by tannic structure and ripe fruit. 60% new oak, Thomas Duclos consultant.