Always a powerful, structured wine, the 2021 Château Trotanoy comes from 7.2 hectares of vines on the southern portion of the appellation and gravelly, clay, and iron-laced soils. All Merlot, it offers a deep ruby/plum hue to go with a medium-bodied, concentrated, inward style as well as classic Trotanoy notes of ripe dark fruits, woodsmoke, iron, and leather. Concentrated, with ripe, polished, yet building tannins, it has a seamless, pure mouthfeel, and a great finish. In comparison to the more round, up-front, and pleasure-bent Fleur-Petrus, this is much more straight, deep, and focused. Give bottles a solid 4-6 years and enjoy over the following two decades.

The 2021 Trotanoy is a dense, powerful wine, despite the challenges of the year. There is a real feeling of substance that comes through in Trotanoy, even in 2021. Dark fruit, gravel, smoke, licorice and incense give Trotanoy its brooding, somber personality. More than anything else, though, it is the wine's sheer amplitude that impresses most.

Plum, chocolate, hazelnut and iodine aromas follow through to a medium body with firm and silky tannins and a savory finish. Hints of toasted oak and chocolate to the fruit on the palate. Balanced and classy. Seriously pretty. Trot personality. Give this three or four years to open and show more. Drink after 2025.

While the 2021 Trotanoy is the most muscular, structured wine in the Mouiex portfolio this year, by Trotanoy's standards, the wine is remarkably supple and charming, and it will only require a modicum of cellaring, even if it will reward more. Offering up aromas of dark cherries, plums and berries mingled with sweet soil tones, licorice and espresso roast, it's medium to full-bodied, with a broad attack, a creamy core of fruit and sweet, powdery tannins that only gently assert themselves on the finish.