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99 By Robert Parker
97 By Wine Spectator
96 By James Suckling
The 2010, a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc cropped at 20 hectoliters per hectare, is showing incredibly well, combining elegance, extraordinary creme de cassis and kirsch-like fruit, and notes of licorice, incense and vanillin in a fragrant, full-bodied, massively endowed style that is neither heavy nor overbearing. The freshness and overall precision of this wine reminds me stylistically of the brilliant 1998 as well as the 2000. This wine normally drinks well reasonably young, but I suspect the 2010 is going to require 5-7 years of cellaring and keep for 25-30+ years. This 12-acre vineyard was recently promoted in the 2012 St.-Emilion classifications from a grand cru to a premier grand cru classe, which was entirely justified by its performance since 1996. The estate is owned by the ever-reliable Stephan von Neipperg.
Producer
Château La Mondotte
This up-and-coming Right Bank producer, Château La Mondotte is one of the greatest garagiste to emerge in the last half of this decade. Similarly owned by the reputable Stéphan von Neipperg, along with his several other leading Bordeaux estates, La Mondotte is quite recent to the wine scene. Produced at von Neipperg’s Canon-la-Gaffelière, the 4.5-hectare vineyard debuted their first vintage in 1996. Since then, the brand has grown into one of the two finest vins de garage coming from Saint-Émilion, next to Le Dôme. The superbly well-drained, clay-silt terroir found on this unusually steep south-facing plot has produced remarkably deep and concentrated wines for two decades. Made in the classic Stephane Derenoncourt style, La Mondotte is aged on the lees in new oak for a year and a half, before being bottled unfiltered. The Merlot based blend, balanced by Cabernet Franc offers a desirable lush texture, flawlessly sewn with tannins.