Château Troplong Mondot

Château Troplong Mondot is now owned by the Valette family, who have brought it into the modern era. Alexandre Valette, a wine merchant in Paris, bought the estate designed by Raymond Troplong. He already owned Château La France in Fronsac and Quinsac, and acquired Château Pavie shortly afterwards. In 1980, Alexandre's great-granddaughter Christine took over the estate. Ten years later, her husband Xavier Parienté joined her. Together, they continued to improve the vineyards, the cellars and the château. In 2006, all these years of hard work were rewarded: Troplong-Mondot was named 1er Grand Cru Classé.

Château Troplong Mondot 's vineyards lie on thick limestone bedrock beneath a layer of fatty clay, and the water table in the subsoil combines to ensure that Troplong Mondot's old vines (35 years old on average, the oldest being nonagenarians) have the limited fertility necessary for great growths. The clay-limestone soil, typical of Saint-Emilion hillside crus, is mixed with sedimentary fragments of flint and limestone. It is perhaps to this original component that we owe the splendid color and beautiful concentration of this wine.

Château Troplong Mondot is run in the traditional way, using a "lutte raisonnée" approach (no weedkillers, no chemical fertilizers, no insecticides). Ploughing, M. Cordeau Bordeaux pruning at two astes. Green debudding in spring. In July, leaf thinning followed by thinning to ensure optimal grape ripening. Hand-picked on the basis of three criteria: ripeness checks, berry tasting and different terroirs on the estate.