Today our Wine Director, David Allen MW, continues a set of tastings of wines kindly supplied by to us by negociant Boire Manoux. Boire Manoux are owned by the Casteja family who (along with other estates) own Chateau Trotte Vieille. His second tasting of the set is the 2017 vintage of Chateau Trotte Vieille 1er Grand Cru Classe (B) Saint-Emilion.
Château Trotte Vieille is an estate in Saint-Émilion, just one kilometer (0.6 miles) east of the town itself, on the famed Saint-Emilion plateau, neighboring the likes of châteaux Troplong-Mondot and Balestard La Tonelle. The state dates back to 1453 and has belonged to the Borie-Manoux négociant business since 1949.
In 1955 it was rated as Premier Grand Cru Classé B in the official classification of Saint-Émilion wines, a status it has retained through every subsequent reiteration of the famed classification.
The origins of the château’s name lie in the 14th Century. Legend has it that a little old lady would walk, or trot, down to the crossing where passing stagecoaches from Bordeaux would make a stop. She would hassle travellers for any news from the city, and the people of Saint-Émilion nicknamed her “la trotte vieille”, or “the old trot”.
Viticulture at Château Trotte Vieille was first officially recorded in a document dating from 1453, making Trotte Vieille one of the oldest in the appellation. Indeed, some of the Cabernet Franc vines in the 10-hectare (25-acre) walled vineyard are more than 140 years old.
While the dominant grape variety planted here is Merlot, the estate proudly grows a higher than usual percentage of Cabernet Franc for an estate on the plateau and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. These vines are planted in red clay soils overlying limestone.
Château Trotte Vieille’s second wine is named, La Vieille Dame de Trotte Vieille. Harvest is done by hand and the grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled concrete vats. Fermentation lasts approximately 15-20 days in the case of the grand vin, after which the wine is then aged in new French oak barrels for 12-18 months.
To find out more about this wine and where to buy it go to the Wine-Searcher website:
#winesearcher #winetasting #saintemilion #trottevielle #chateautrottevielle #bordeaux #clarets #cabernetfranc #redbordeaux #winelover #masterofwine #boiremanoux