Chāteau La Mondotte - St.-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe 2016

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Jeb Dunnuck: 98 Points

Not far off the magical 2015, the 2016 La Mondotte comes from a tiny vineyard of clay and limestone soil located next to Pavie Decesse. A blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, this behemoth boasts a deep purple color as well as a brilliant array of crème de cassis, blackcurrants, crushed rocks, and graphite. Full-bodied and beautifully concentrated, with liquid minerality emerging with time in the glass, this legendary Saint-Emilion in the making needs 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for 3-4 decades.

James Suckling: 97 Points

Extremely polished and refined red showing blackberry, cedar and milk-chocolate character. Full-bodied and extra long on the finish with such elegance. Love the hint of acidity at the end.

Vinous: 97 Points

The 2016 La Mondotte is exceptionally beautiful today. Chalk, limestone and a host of soil-driven notes make La Mondotte one of the most distinctive wines of the vintage. The 2016 is remarkably translucent for such a big wine. It offers plenty of the signature darkness, but it is also brisk and full of energy.

Wine Enthusiast: 96 Points

Made by the winemaking team of Canon la Gaffelière, this wine is stylishly elegant, restrained in its structure and tannins. Its intensely juicy character is already attractive, giving the wine almost a refreshing character. This balanced wine will be ready from 2025.
Cellar Selection

Wine Spectator: 96 Points

This is a towering display of purity, with unadulterated cassis and raspberry fruit coursing along live-wire acidity while light chalk, anise and black tea notes fill in. Has serious grip, but it's buried in that jaw-dropping core of fruit. And this has minerality to burn. A stunner.

Wine Advocate: 95 Points

The 2016 La Mondotte is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc this year, picked between 29 September and 15 October and matured in 70% new oak. The alcohol level is around 14.5%. It has a lucid purple hue in the glass. The bouquet is very perfumed, very pure with luscious red cherries, blueberry and a hint of sloes, the new oak discrete and allowing the terroir to shine through perhaps more than the 2015 last year. The palate is silky smooth on the entry, but underneath the bonnet, there is considerable tannic backbone that certainly can be felt more towards the finish that exerts a light grip. In a strange way, it reminds me a little of Ch'teau Canon! Give this 4-5 years once in bottle.