WTN: Troplong Mondot Dinner

[Brad Ballinger]

One of the Twin Cities locals got it in his craw to host a dinner party featuring Chateau Troplong Mondot. He had an 89 begging to be opened. He also had lined up someone with a 90. I had a 96, and the event was born.

There were two starter wine. One was a 1999 Arrowood Chardonnay, that I had a very small amount of, and found it too sweet. The other was a 2002 Giovanni Terenzi “Villa Santa,” Passerina del Frusinate, Lazio IGT. Passerina is an ancient white grape variety. The first pour of this wine was a bit tight and closed. Could’ve been the temperature; could’ve needed aeration; could’ve been both. The wine revealed some perfumed floral and crystal mineral elements, with some faint herbs, but the finish was non-existent. With warmth and air, the wine developed in complexity. Some citrus pith elements surfaced along with more minerality. The finish also grew in length featuring a bitter lemon-almond character. A very nice wine on its own and with salad.

1996 Troplong Mondot, St. Emilion. Of the three, this one finished third, lacking some of the depth and layers of the other two. The fruit here was more on the tart side. That’s not necessarily bad, but it was fairly one-dimensional in that regard. Tannins were on the dusty side. The wine certainly would finish a distant third in a blind tasting of all three wines alone. But as a companion to the braised lamb, it made a very pleasant pairing. With some time in the class, the fruit began to round out, and some secondary herb and earth elements surfaced, but it never seemed fully developed.

1990 Troplong Mondot, St. Emilion. The wine of the night for me. Perhaps the 89 will someday surpass it. But on this particular night, the 90 came out on top. Of the three this one is most centrally in its drinking window. The fruit has a ripeness about it and the wine is just beginning to show signs of maturity with a little earth and funk. The tannins and smooth, and the texture is very silky. But the wine is no pushover. There’s plenty of stuffing to stand up to the cuisine, and this wine was the best marriage with the food. On the finish, there’s almost a liqueur-like viscosity and richness.

1989 Troplong Mondot, St. Emilion. This wine was much more a bruiser in terms of both tannin and alcohol. The percentage on the label was the same, but the wine smelled alcoholic, tasted alcoholic, and finished hot. In that regard, it seemed overly one-dimensional at first, like it wanted to blow the taster away. The fruit seemed more developed and complex in the 1990. I left it alone until after the meal and after the cheese, and it started to emerge into a more complex wine at that time. The volatiles had dissipated, and the fruit was starting to place nice with the chocolate, coffee, and earthy components. This wine likely has more life ahead of it than the 1990, but has some growing up to do along the way to reach that level.

1995 Domaine du Pegau, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Cuvee Reservee. This wine was served with a cheese course. It is developing nicely, and I would lay off it for another 3-5 years. I didn’t write much else down for notes, but remember it as gamey, full of olives, and having just enough structure.

2002 Inniskillin Riesling Ice Wine, Niagara. This makes a three year vintage leap for me from the last Inniskillin ice wine I’ve had (both riesling and vidal). This particular wine shows bright acidity amid the diesel and honeyed apples. There’s no “thickness” to the texture whatsoever. The best way to describe it is what it is – a young ice wine. The blance is exceptional, and I would expect great things of this wine for the person who is patient enough to leave well enough alone.

1998 Rieussec, Sauternes. This wine is in the middle of its transition from a honeyed, tropical juice bomb to a wine that has the mature Sauternes quality of crème brulee, a little bit of almond, and the carbonization of the sugars (I’m not sure that’s the right term, but maybe someone will know what I mean. The acidity is at a high level, helping the wine still appear youthful as it just begins (and I mean just begins) to shed some of its sweetness. I could see this one as my wine of the night as well. But that led to a discussion as to whether or not a dessert wine could be WOTN. Some felt the dessert wines had an unfair advantage, and that is wasn’t an accurate comparison. Oh, well. I’m happy drinking all the wines no matter what.

Edited February 23, 2004 by Brad Ballinger (log)