From Wine-Cellar:
2/18/2024 – GERBBB LIKES THIS WINE:92 Points
This chateau seems to improve year by year. Typical medoc/ st. Estèphe, nose (dark fruit, lavender, tabaco, mint). Taste (nice balance and freshness, a bit high on alcohol, loads of red dark fruits, bit of herbs). Really good, especially for a 2017. Like the balance even more than in 2018 and 2020.
From the Garagiste:
Tronquoy-Lalande (Saint-Estepehe) is one of the finest properties in all of Bordeaux…yet they remain unclassified and left to their own devices.
Why?
That is easy to explain – William Kelley succinctly wraps it up: “As I wrote earlier this year, Tronquoy-Lalande is an estate that deserves to be much better known. This was the second vineyard planted in Saint-Estèphe, after the Clos of Calon-Ségur, but its Royalist owner didn’t participate in the 1855 classification due to his disapproval of Napoléon III. The vineyard itself consists of a single 30-hectare block on an eight-meter-deep gravel ridge directly behind châteaux Meyney and Montrose. Certified organic with the 2021 vintage, Tronquoy-Lalande has never seen herbicides; and after its acquisition by Olivier and Martin Bouygues in 2006, the winery was redesigned with input from the late Jean-Philippe Delmas, equipped with two-tiered stainless steel tanks after the model used at Château Haut-Brion. Ably overseen by Yves Delsol, who has worked at the estate for 30 years and thus knows its every detail, the style is seamless, complex and concentrated, with structural elegance that reflects the quality of these gravel soils more than it does any stereotypes of Saint-Estèphe rusticity. Indeed, in any revision of the 1855 classification, this estate will clearly win classified growth status. Tronquoy-Lalande isn’t sold en primeur, and readers can find all the vintages reviewed here on the marketplace.”
I will also wrap it up:
• A grudge dating back to 1855 keeps Tronquoy-Lalande as an outsider (read: instead of easily asking $75-100+ for their wine (as a Classified Growth, which the property certainly deserves), they are placed in a “generic” pool of $26+ wine instead. Who has the last laugh? Napoleon III.
• No “en-premier” participation (another reason they are considered an outsider…but what about Latour? They no longer participate and no one bats an eye?).
• Tronquoy-Lalande’s vineyard is arguably as grand as anything at Calon-Segur or Montrose – yes, I’ve said it.
• Eight meters of gravel – need I say more?
• Haut-Brion’s influence.
• No herbicides…ever (not even in the pesticide heyday of the 1970’s/1980’s) and far outside the “leaded gas” 1960’s/1970’s soil contamination of certain vineyards that surround the city of Bordeaux and into Pessac.
• As a group (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), Tronquoy-Lalande had the highest rated wines in William Kelley’s entire report…for good reason!
Today’s subject?
Worthy of a case acquisition…
William Kelley (WA, October 31st 2022): “Open and perfumed, the 2017 Tronquoy-Lalande bursts with aromas of sweet blackberries, spices and cherries. Medium to full-bodied, supple and charming, its melting tannins cloaked in an ample core of fruit, this bright, expressive wine is already drinking well. 92pts”
Lisa Perrotti-Brown: “A blend of 55% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Tronquoy-Lalande races out of the glass with bright, exuberant scents of Morello cherries, mulberries, warm plums and fresh blackcurrants plus touches of allspice, candied violets and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is laden with expressive black and red fruits plus loads of floral accents and a wonderfully plush texture, finishing long and fragrant. 2022 – 2045. 93+pts”
(the 2017 Tronquoy-Lalande also has a Jean-Marc Quarin 92pt note – which is a very high score for him – with a drinking window through 2045; the wine is also a VdV92-93)
So…
If you cellar fine wine, you may “need” high-level bottles to enjoy while you wait for your more serious vintages to mature – don’t bother opening 2005, 2010, 2016 or 2019 too early…open the 2017 Tronquoy-Lalande instead – a top-end experience of utter class and beauty that trades for a pittance.
My summation?
Tronquoy-Lalande is the most underrated property of Bordeaux’s Left Bank and the 2017 vintage is the most underrated Bordeaux of the season!
This parcel is set to arrive in the late fall with the finest/freshest original provenance available – it’s a pristine parcel directly from the winery holding pen – local drive-through pick-up in the late fall.
2017 Chateau Tronquoy-Lalande Saint-Estephe 750ml (Bordeaux)
(LPB93+)(WA92)(VdV92-93)(JMQ92)
(non-cert organic; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc; compare at $40-50+ in the US)
My Tasting Notes:
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