LA MONDOTTE
2016 Saint Emilion
80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. Very concentrated and sweet creamy fruit, concentrated and densely fruity and tannic. It remains pure, but I still don't get this - more flow and sense of purpose needed. Drinking range: 2030 - 2040 Rating: 90-91 L&S (Apr 2017)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
Not far off the magical 2015, the 2016 La Mondotte comes from a tiny vineyard of clay and limestone soil located next to Pavie Decesse. A blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, this behemoth boasts a deep purple color as well as a brilliant array of crème de cassis, blackcurrants, crushed rocks, and graphite. Full-bodied and beautifully concentrated, with liquid minerality emerging with time in the glass, this legendary Saint-Emilion in the making needs 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for 3-4 decades. Drinking range: 2024 - 2064 Rating: 98+ Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
This shows a dark, toasty style at first, with notes of ganache and plum reduction, but it unwinds steadily and slowly, revealing pure cassis, cherry and raspberry fruit flavors gilded liberally with violet and anise accents. The long finish is laced with a superfine chalky minerality that imparts mouthwatering cut even as the fruit gains steam. Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 96 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Jan 2019)
The 2016 La Mondotte is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc this year, picked between 29 September and 15 October and matured in 70% new oak. The alcohol level is around 14.5%. It has a lucid purple hue in the glass. The bouquet is very perfumed, very pure with luscious red cherries, blueberry and a hint of sloes, the new oak discrete and allowing the terroir to shine through perhaps more than the 2015 last year. The palate is silky smooth on the entry, but underneath the bonnet, there is considerable tannic backbone that certainly can be felt more towards the finish that exerts a light grip. In a strange way, it reminds me a little of Château Canon! Give this 4-5 years once in bottle. Drinking range: 2022 - 2050 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
This is a towering display of purity, with unadulterated cassis and raspberry fruit coursing along live-wire acidity while light chalk, anise and black tea notes fill in. Has serious grip, but it’s buried in that jaw-dropping core of fruit. And this has minerality to burn. A stunner. Rating: 97-100 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)
Extremely polished and refined red showing blackberry, cedar and milk-chocolate character. Full-bodied and extra long on the finish with such elegance. Love the hint of acidity at the end. Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)
The 2016 La Mondotte is exceptionally beautiful today. Chalk, limestone and a host of soil-driven notes make La Mondotte one of the most distinctive wines of the vintage. The 2016 is remarkably translucent for such a big wine. It offers plenty of the signature darkness, but it is also brisk and full of energy. Rating: 94-97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
Some of the Merlot vines used to make this famous organic red are more than 100 years’ old and it shows in the density and concentration of the wine. Very hard to taste young, it’s a monumental, powerful, richly upholstered blend with layers of firm tannin, stylish coffee bean oak and balancing acidity. Drinking range: 2026 - 2038 Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)
La Mondotte
La Mondotte has a less than remarkable history dating back at least to the 19th Century – things only get interesting after 1971, and even then it takes a while. In 1971 the von Neipperg family bought La Mondotte along with Clos de l’Oratoire and, surely the jewel in the crown, Château Canon la Gaffelière. Not much was expected of La Mondotte, it hadn’t made it into any St Emilion classifications, there wasn’t even a château or any wine making facilities there, the wine being made at Canon la Gaffelière and with little aplomb. Stephan von Neipperg took over the family’s St Emilion estates in 1983 and by the mid-90’s had taken the eminently sensible decision to absorb the vineyards of La Mondotte into the grander estate of Château Canon la Gaffelière, and the necessary application was made to the INAO. The INAO said no. In a fit of miraculous pique, Stephan, rather than doing away with La Mondotte, launched it at the world – in order to function as an estate in its own right a new winery and facilities were built at the vineyard, Stéphane Derenoncourt was brought in as winemaker and yields were slashed to some of the lowest in St Emilion. He might have built a château, but from the first vintage of the re-born Le Mondotte the “Château” prefix was gone. The first vintage was 1996 and it was an immediate hit. By the time the 2012 St Emilion classification was released, La Mondotte was a Premier Grand Cru Classé (B). La Mondotte is at the eastern end of the St Emilion plateau on very deep limestone soils. It sits next to Château Troplong Mondot. The vineyards are 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, with an average age of 50 years. Yields are typically as low as 20hl/ha, and occasionally lower. The wine is aged exclusively in new wood for 18 to 24 months. La Mondotte is an unashamedly rich and concentrated style of St Emilion and has garnered much praise from Robert Parker.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.