Coming from a terrific terroir on the upper plateau, just east of the village of Saint-Emilion, the 2022 Château Trotte Vieille checks in as 50% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a powerful, concentrated 2022 yet it never puts a foot wrong, offering remarkable purity in its red and black fruits as well as aromatics of scorched earth, baking spices, licorice, and woodsmoke. With medium to full-bodied richness, present yet nicely integrated oak, ripe tannins, and outstanding length, it deserves 5-7 years of bottle age and will drink beautifully over the following two decades. It's another legit, beautiful Saint-Emilion in the vintage. While I wasn't able to taste this during my trip through Bordeaux, I subsequently purchased a bottle locally to review.

The 2022 Trotte Vieille takes time to cohere on the nose, with scents of red fruit, black olive, violet and liquorice, though it meliorates in the glass and finds more and more refinement. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine tannins, spicy and peppery, well integrated oak and a concentrated finish that will require time. I believe this will come good in the end and represents one of the finest wines from this underestimated estate in recent years. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

The quality of the 2022 Trotte Vieille took me by surprise, but clearly more diligent viticulture, combined with a new winery equipped with fully 26 vats for the estate's 11 hectares of vineyards, is beginning to pay off, as this is the most complete, integrated young wine I have ever tasted at this address. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries, rose petals, violets and incense, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with a deep core of vibrant fruit, beautifully refined tannins and a long, saline finish. A blend of fully 50% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot, it derives exclusively from Trotte Vieille's historic clay-limestone walled vineyard.