1983 Château Trotanoy

Community Tasting Notes (49) Avg Score: 93.0 points

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  2/21/2024 - Juliansi Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Light tobacco aromatics on the nose. First impression on the palate was slightly herbaceous, and polished leather.
  
  Red fruit and plums held to the end of our dinner, highlighting sublime balance for a 41 year old claret.
  
  85% Merlot, 15% Cab Franc. 33,000 bottles produced in this vintage. Proudly brought the oldest bottle of the night, many of the sifus and lads thought.. 1998!
  
  Aging lasts 16 to 18 months in French oak barrels
  Around 50% of which are new.
  
  The 1983 vintage for Bordeaux was generally very good. The growing season began with a cold winter and a cool, wet spring.
  
  However, mild conditions set in shortly after allowing near perfect bud break and flowering and, despite a brief cool spell, temperatures soared in July.
  
  The month of August, although still hot, brought abundant rains which relieved the vines. Sept was dry.
  
  Dinner at Château @SKT celebrating Chor 12 of our Chinese New Year of the Dragon, the theme was wines with 🎱 in the vintage!
  
  
  21 Feb 2024
  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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  2/9/2024 - brooklynguy Likes this wine:

  Decanted an hour before drinking. Nose was lovely immediately but felt closed on the palate. The first glass was way better, and the second glass at maybe 1 hr 45 mins in was better yet. Decant for 2 hours next time. This wine is lovely, with a leathery and soil driven nose that also shows beautiful menthol and minty notes, very savory overall. Completely resolved on the palate, silky in texture, great balance and composition, and somehow comes off with a lovely natural sweetness although there is no fruit. Good impact and density to the flavors. This is not a wow wine at all. It’s soft spoken and very delicious.

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  6/5/2023 - Juliansi Likes this wine: 94 Points

  This still had fruit and with that beautiful silky acidity, I guessed.. Mid 1990s.
  
  Turns out when DQ unveiled his bottle, it’s a 1983. Yes, 1983! Blend is circa 80-90% Merlot, with the rest Cab Franc.
  
  Ruby with some translucence and slightly fading rim give some hints of the age, but still we were surprised this was already 40 years old. It was that good!
  
  Nose with slight mint, and graphite building beautifully like a high quality pencil lead. Body also continued to develop after the 1st hour, gaining weight...
  
  Story of this 1983 vintage: Whilst this 1983 Trotanoy is a beautiful example of the vintage and one of the great unsung years for this estate in the superb decade of the 1980s, not every Chateau had such a good result with this cool vintage.
  
  1983 is obviously in the shadow of the very opulent 1982, and is known to be an inconsistent vintage where the hillside vineyards of St Emilion performed best. 1983 saw an unexceptional winter, which was then succeeded by a cool, damp spring.
  
  Flowering was good but cool weather quickly followed. Temperatures improved in July and Aug, but a lot of rain fell as well. Drier conditions took over in late August, but temperatures dropped as well.
  
  A fine September led into a good harvest in early Oct. Chateau Trotanoy adopts its name from the French term, "trop ennui". It means.. Too much to bother with, or too boring! Quite an irony, as I have never had a Trotanoy which I didn't like. The 1990 WMK last shared was mind-blowing,and this 1983 excellent!
  
  Terroir: Located on the west side of the Pomerol plateau, it is not far from Petrus and Chateau Lafleur. Le Pin is just to the southeast and towards the north, there are 3 other Ets. Moueix chateauxs; Latour a’ Pomerol, Hosanna and La Fleur Petrus.
  
  This 7.6-hectare vineyard of Trotanoy is planted to 88% Merlot and 12% Cab Franc. There has been an increase in the amount of Merlot planted in the vineyards since the 1990s. The terroir is rich black clay with gravel and deposits of iron in the soil.
  
  The soil of Château Trotanoy consists of very dense mixture of clay and gravel, and often solidifies as it dries out after rain to an almost concrete-like hardness.
  
  Thus, the name “Trotanoy,” stuck - In other words, “too wearisome” to cultivate! The vineyards of Trotanoy were first planted in 1761. Initially owned by the Giraud family, successful landowners in the Right Bank. Then in 1953, it was purchased by Jean-Pierre Moueix. Yes, the same as Petrus, La Fleur-Pétrus and Dominus too.
  
  The micro-climate of Trotanoy is a bit warmer than in nearby estates, because of the elevated gravel slopes. Harvest at Trotanoy begins earlier compared to at the neighbours, with gravel soils picked first, followed by the clay areas.
  
  The best terroir is actually situated on the Pomerol plateau, with an elevation of 40 m. There are 2 separate parts, one with more gravel, and more clay in the other part.
  
  At the peak elevations, there is more gravel on the surface. Under the topsoil, different types of gravel, sand, and deposits of iron can be found. And, down the gentle slopes of the vineyard, more clay can be found.
  
  Thanks for the treat brother DavidQ, it’s a privilege to have a 40-year old Bordeaux on a rainy afternoon in Damansara Kim. Cheers WMK and Muruga Vadivale too!
  
  Whilst this may be in its last 3-5 years of its drinking window, I would not hesitate to get another bottle for my 50th birthday next year! Consider this.. an aged bottle of this quality and provenance may cost circa USD 300, but a new release in the recent past years is closer to USD 500 and one would have to cellar the new wine for +20 years.
  
  It was amazing that brother DavidQ brought a gun to a knife-fight for our sleepy impromptu lazy afternoon tipple. Acid freshness on back-palate in the medium-long length finish, black-fruit and plums and I could only describe the mouthfeel as silky with perfectly resolved tannins.
  
  Secondary and tertiary notes of mushrooms, herbs such as sage, and earth rounded off the experience. Such wonderful complexity, I liked how intellectual this wine was. Fragrant cigar box and worn leather rounds off a med length finish.
  
  5th Jun 2023
  Damansara Kim, Malaysia

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  11/22/2022 - Antoine G wrote: flawed

  Bouchon.

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  9/11/2022 - FrancoisD Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Vin qui est passé son apogé.
  Cependant, une aciditité encore présente lui confère certaines qualités.
  Bien que dominance tertiaire (feuilles mortes, fougère, vieux cuir), il y a du fruit (mûres et cerises compotées).
  Aussi: cèdre et bouleaux

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