Château Trotanoy En Primeur 2019

CHÂTEAU TROTANOY 2019 VINTAGE EN PRIMEUR EXCLUSIVE TO CORNEY & BARROW IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

“You’re walking away with my heart and my soul.”

TINA TURNER, 1991

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YOU’RE SIMPLY THE BEST...

“Quite simply, one of the best Pomerols… again.”

NEAL MARTIN ON TROTANOY 2019, June 2020

Neal Martin’s quote says it all. Trotanoy is at the top of its game. Indeed, this is not news, but the estate today, a jewel of the already-glittering Ets Jean-Pierre Moueix family holdings, has never made better wines.

The 100% Merlot Trotanoy 2019, picked in a single day on 21st September 2019, is another significant feather in the caps of Christian and Édouard Moueix and their team. In his note, Adam calls it “Ducal”. Tina Turner would put it differently but both would agree that this is indeed a great Trotanoy.

This year, we are also very pleased to be able to offer Trotanoy’s second wine, Espérance de Trotanoy. From the marvellous 2016 vintage, Espérance is beginning to drink beautifully and is available for immediate delivery.

GUY SEDDON July 2020

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THE HISTORY Paradise lost, paradise regained…

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The fortunes of Trotanoy have ebbed and flowed but it has always been an important part of the Pomerol fabric, by virtue of its historical size and its dominant position on the central plateau.

inheritance expenses, so the map lines of Pomerol shifted. One former parcel forms the core of today’s Château Latour à Pomerol. By 1908, the holdings had been reduced to a still-fairly-substantial 18 hectares.

In the nineteenth century, Trotanoy had the twin distinctions of being Pomerol’s joint-largest volume producer and being ranked second in quality – behind Vieux Château Certan and ahead of Petrus.*

Jean-Pierre Moueix’s purchase of Château Trotanoy in 1953 was both his most significant acquisition to date and the turning point in the estate’s history. Under the steely resolve of Jean-Pierre Moueix and later the nurturing hand of his son Christian Moueix, Trotanoy rose to the position it holds today.

As various plots were sold off over the years to settle

*

Bordeaux et Ses Vins, Cocks et Féret, 1868

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8 Map reproduced with kind permission of Neal Martin, Wine Journal Publishing and Kelley Moueix.

VINEYARD HOLDINGS 2019 VINTAGE Size (hectares)

2019 Vintage Blend

Average Vine Age (yrs)

Soil

Average Production (doz)

7.2

100% Merlot

38

Gravel on clay and black clay on iron pan

1,670 dozen bottle cases

Credit Benjamin Duvignac

THE VINEYARD The serried ranks of cypress trees and crunchy white pebbles mark Trotanoy out as different.

Different in a good way. Those stones act as a store of heat, helping protect against frost. And the cypresses certainly make the vineyard visible across the plateau.

Beneath the pebbles is clay, which means the soils tend to bake solid in dry weather, in Édouard Moueix’s words, into “an almost concrete-like hardness”. When wet, they become treacherously slippery. It is not a coincidence that ‘Trotanoy’ suggests ‘Trop ennuie’ – ‘too much’, ‘too difficult’...

The 7.2 hectares of vines here are planted partly on the plateau, partly on a west-facing slope. There is more gravel at the top of the slope and progressively more clay as you descend. The subsoil contains more gravel, sand and then a rock-hard layer of iron-rich soil, Pomerol’s famous crasse de fer.

The map to the left was drawn by Kelley Moueix, Édouard’s wife. As it shows, the vineyard comprises six parcels. La Marinette lies to the south-east of the château, towards Le Pin. The driveway with its cypress sentinels is flanked by Entrée Gauche and Entrée Droite. Along with La Marinette, these are the nerve-centre of the estate, planted predominantly with Merlot and benefitting from some of the deepest gravel soils in Pomerol, particularly Entrée Gauche. To the north-west of the château lie Le Hangar and Les Argiles, the latter, as the name suggests, the estate’s most clay-heavy parcel. The final plot is La Piscine, behind the château, in the direction of Latour à Pomerol.

The last significant re-planting was a parcel of Merlot in 2002. Old vines prevail, the average age being 37 years.

The plantings are 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, although the blend in 2019 is 100% Merlot. On average, only 20,000 bottles are produced per year.

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THE CELLAR Minimal intervention is the key here. The hands-off winemaking at Trotanoy follows the approach of the great Jean-Claude Berrouet, who over five decades made some of the most legendary Pomerols, including at Trotanoy and Petrus.

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Jean-Claude Berrouet’s last complete vintage at Trotanoy was 2006, when he was succeeded as technical director for Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix by Éric Murisasco, the current incumbent. Éric had worked as cellar master alongside Jean-Claude since 1993, meaning continuity was and is assured.

The grapes are sorted and fully de-stemmed. An optical grape sorter is on hand if required, having been used at all Moueix properties since 2009. Following fermentation and maceration for around three weeks in temperaturecontrolled concrete vats, at a relatively low 26°C, the wine ages for 20 months in French oak barrels, 40-50% of which are new. It is fined with egg whites, with no filtration.

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Credit Benjamin Duvignac

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THE GROWING SEASON Although boldly framed by a warm, dry summer, the individual brush strokes of 2019 happened at the micro level, both in the vineyard and the cellar.

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This is one of the keys to the great 2019s – they combine power and finesse in a way that only an experienced grower and a mature vineyard can. As I wrote in our general Moueix offer, 2019 is a vintage of substance, with ample tannin. The same is true of Trotanoy but here, even more than at the other family estates, there is a supreme structural delicacy.

Tasting Trotanoy from barrel is no hardship.

After a mild winter, spring was by turns sunny and rainy.

Having dodged frost on 13th April, it was the rain in early June that first left a stamp on the vintage. Flowering suffered as a result and Merlot bunches averaged just 120 grapes (compared to the usual 200). It was to be a lower-yielding year.

The summer was exceptionally sunny and warm, only just falling short of 2018’s historic record for sunshine

hours. 2019 can be seen as a continuation of the modern line of sun-forged vintages. However, unlike years such as 2015 and 2009, which are defined by their lush fruit, 2019 seems to have more in common with the phenolic richness of 2018, 2010 and, for those with longer memories, 2005.

On the fast draining gravel plateau of Pomerol, hydric stress set in as early as mid-July. Fortunately, some 3.5cm of gentle rain on 26th July came to the rescue, inducing a quick and even véraison (colour change).

In Édouard Moueix’s words, “this moment marked the qualitative turn of the vintage.”

At the end of August, Merlot berries weighed 1.2g on average (versus 1.5g in a ‘normal’ vintage), indicating “exceptional concentration but low yields”. The crop was 20% below average. Unusually, harvest took place in a single day, on 21st September.

THE ALLOCATION PROCESS The nature of En Primeur means stocks are limited. We use our exclusive relationships to secure as much as possible. You can always order with confidence from Corney & Barrow.

• The focus of Château Trotanoy and Corney & Barrow is on the private customer and as a consumer rather than a speculator.

• The wines are bought on the clear understanding that it will be stored and delivered in the UK only.

• Should you wish to sell the wines in the future, do please offer Corney & Barrow first refusal as this will ensure the integrity of secondary market distribution, something which is of great concern to Château Trotanoy and Ets. Jean-Pierre Moueix.

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• Priority will be given to Ets JP Moueix, Château Trotanoy’s and Corney & Barrow’s best, most loyal and most regular customers.

Édouard Moueix

As detailed above, all orders are conditional upon UK storage only.

Do please speak to our sales team, who will be delighted to help you further.

May we please have your order by 8th July 2020.

Allocations will be completed by 15th July 2020.

Confirmation of order will be through receipt of invoice and the wine will be put into your reserve on payment.

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TASTING NOTES Trotanoy’s second wine, Espérance de Trotanoy is released once bottled and we felt this year, for the first time, that it should be included here. And what a vintage to start with – the wonderful 2016! Espérance comes from two parcels on the north-eastern side of the estate, ‘La Piscine’ and ‘Entrée Droite’ (see Kelley Moueix’s map on page 8). It offers a chance to experience some of that Trotanoy class just a bit earlier.

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ESPÉRANCE DE TROTANOY 2016

CHÂTEAU TROTANOY 2019

Tasting note by Guy Seddon

Tasting note by Adam Brett-Smith

A darkly berried, gently leafy nose, with pure violet aromatics. The palate is textured, with dried-earth minerality, lifted by arching acidity, which makes this hugely approachable and offers a tantalising glimpse into the character of the great Trotanoy 2016 itself in years to come. There is more than enough ageing potential and tannic rigour here to see this through a decade and more. In summer 2020, this is just easing into its drinking window.

Last year I referred to Trotanoy 2018 as “Majestic”. Rather weirdly I wrote the same thing about the 2019 so perhaps, in the interest of differentiation, I should substitute “Ducal” without in any way detracting from a wonderful wine.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5 Recommended drinking from 2021 - 2031+

Opaque, ruby colour. The nose is brooding, darkly fruited, briary, with a densely ripe, concentrated red fruit perfume.

The palate is profoundly concentrated as well but with a supple, cloaked structure and flavours that balloon across the palate. What is wonderful about this wine – and this is rare for Trotanoy at such an early stage – is the “heart on sleeve” sensitively extracted power before a finish that is profound and long. Very Ducal, very great.

£425/Case of 6 bottles, in bond UK Trotanoy 2019 is 100% Merlot.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5 - 18 Recommended drinking from 2028 - 2031+ £1,245/Case of 6 bottles, in bond UK £1,255/Case of 3 magnums, in bond UK

Tasting Guide Our tasting notes provide full details but, at your request, we have also introduced a clear and simple marking system. We hope these guidelines assist you in your selection. For the benefit of simplicity, wines are scored out of 20. We will often use a range of scores (e.g. 16.5 to 17) to indicate the potential to achieve a higher mark.

When a ‘+’ is shown it adds further to that potential. Wines from lesser vintages will, inevitably, show a lower overall score.

Wines are judged, in a very broad sense, against their peers. Why? Well, you cannot easily compare a Ford with an Aston Martin, other than they are both cars and have wheels. It is not that different with wine. A score is a summary only. The devil is in the detail, so please focus on the tasting notes and, as always, speak to our sales team.

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CONTACT US LONDON 1 Thomas More Street London E1W 1YZ T +44 (0)20 7265 2400 sales@corneyandbarrow.com

NORTH OF ENGLAND Sedbury Stables Sedbury Hall, Richmond North Yorkshire DL10 5LQ T +44 (0)1748 828 640 sedburyorders@corneyandbarrow.com

EAST ANGLIA Belvoir House High Street, Newmarket Suffolk CB8 8DH T +44 (0)1638 600 000 newmarket@corneyandbarrow.com

EDINBURGH Oxenfoord Castle by Pathhead Midlothian Scotland EH37 5UB T +44 (0)1875 321 921 edinburgh@corneyandbarrow.com

AYR 8 Academy Street, Ayr Ayrshire, Scotland KA7 1HT T +44 (0)1292 267 000 ayr@corneyandbarrow.com

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