Château Tronquoy: Tasting & Drinking
Tasting the wine alongside that of Château Montrose during the primeur tastings, my first encounter with the wines of Château Tronquoy, or Château Tronquoy-Lalande as it was at the time, was not thoroughly positive. A difficult vintage, 2007, did not help the wine to shine of course. Nevertheless, the situation was not significantly better in 2008, and I have to confess that at that time I saw nothing in these wines to suggest the estate had such an illustrious history. They were drinkable but rustic, tannic and peppery wines. Having missed out on the 2009 vintage I have not seen what was achieved that year, but the 2010 clearly demonstrated a huge improvement. And since then this estate has never looked back.
No longer were the wines robust and four-square; now they were much more appealing, the palate on both the grand vin and even the second wine in 2010 displaying a soft, harmonious and accessible style, the aromatics were lifted and bright. For what was a classically styled, tannin-rich vintage they showed a remarkable restraint and harmony. Although there was perhaps some vintage effect here, there was too big a change in both quality and style, especially in the quality and integration of the tannins, for this to be the sole factor behind this dramatic improvement.
