Chateau La Mondotte 2015

Professional Ratings

• 100 Jeb Dunnuck
  The deep purple, inky-colored 2015 La Mondotte is something to behold and one of the top handful of wines in the vintage, as well as a perfect wine. Coming from an organically farmed 4.5-hectare parcel of clay and limestone soils located behind Pavie Decesse and a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc (it hit 14.5% alcohol), it boasts awesome aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, black licorice, and toasty oak, with building minerality that comes through with time in the glass. It’s incredible on the palate as well and possesses a huge, super-concentrated, yet thrillingly pure, elegant style as well as lots of sweet tannins and a huge finish. It’s a primordial baby at the moment, but wow, what a wine. Give bottles 4-5 years of cellaring and it should keep for two to three decades.
• 99 James Suckling
  The aromas of blackberries, iodine, oyster shell, violets and lavender are so impressive. Full-bodied, dense and beautifully balanced and refined. Transparent. Real. True beauty. Nothing adding. Organically grown grapes. Drink in 2023.
• 98 Wine Spectator
  This sports a nearly exotic core of fruit, with loganberry, plum, açaí berry and fig notes woven together. Lush on top but supported by a graphite underpinning. Hedonistic at first but shows greater finesse and minerality through the floral- and anise-accented finish. Dense, but pure and tensile. Best from 2020 through 2045. 1,150 cases made.
• 96 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2015 La Mondotte is a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc picked on 18 September and 7 October respectively, then aged in 80% new oak after a 33-day vatting. It has a dense, opulent and very concentrated bouquet that is driven by the super-intense Merlot, though as I mention in my accompanying introduction, the alcohol is contained and not at all apparent. The palate is very well balanced with rounded, supple tannin. There is a lot of weight in the mouth here, very focused and intense with blackberry and raspberry fruit, fine mineralité and tension, leading to an almost pixelated finish. This is an impressive La Mondotte for sure, though the 2015 Canon la Gaffeliere might offer more intellect. Barrel Sample: 94-96 Points
• 94 Decanter
  Pure aromatics. Powerful tannic base but the tannins are ripe and round. Freshness from start to finish so great harmony. Limestone terroir apparent. Tight, firm finish. Restrained power. Now organically certified.