La Mondotte 2020

The 2020 La Mondotte is fabulous. Rich, heady and exotic, the 2020 offers up copious blackberry, blueberry, mocha, licorice, lavender and spice, with more savory and mineral notes that appear over time. Like all of Stephan von Neipperg's 2020s, La Mondotte marries fruit intensity and structure in brilliant style. As always, La Mondotte is a pretty full throttle Saint-Émilion, but the excesses of the past have been tamed.

Score: 97 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2030-2045 Date: 23 February 2023

The 2020 La Mondotte is inky and powerful, but also very much closed in on itself. Inky blue/blackish fruit, spice, lavender, gravel, new leather and coffee all take shape with a bit of air. Like all of Stephan von Neipperg's 2020s, La Mondotte deftly marries textural richness with energy. The result is a deep, potent La Mondotte that has so much to offer. The clean, vibrant finish is a thing of beauty. Superb.

Score: 95 - 97 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028-2050 Date: 01 June 2021

The 2020 La Mondotte does not mess about, delivering a payload of ripe, opulent blackberry, cassis, India ink and figgy scents, exotic but very sensual and managing to retain impressive delineation. The balanced palate presents succulent tannins and a satiny texture. There is real depth to this La Mondotte, yet the acidity keeps it light on its toes, and there is impressive salinity toward the finish. This constitutes one of the finest La Mondotte releases in recent years. Chapeau!

Score: 95 - 97 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025 - 2050 Date: 28 May 2021

A true blockbuster in the vintage is the 2020 La Mondotte, which comes from a tiny 12-acre parcel of limestone soils located near Troplong Mondot, Pavie, and Larcis Ducasse, on the upper limestone plateau. Emerging from the talented team of Stephan von Neipperg and brought up in new barrels, it has a wonderfully pure, clean, medium to full-bodied style offering integrated oak, a straight, focused texture, and incredible purity in its darker berry fruits as well as notes of gravelly earth and liquid violets. It’s common for the wines from the upper plateau to show more perfumed ethereal aromatics (as opposed to more richness from wines on the hillside), and this is incredibly perfumed, elegant, and aromatic while still offering density, structure, and length. It’s going to take 7-8 years to hit maturity, but it should see its 30th birthday in fine form.

Score: 96 - 98 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Date: 25 May 2021

Ruby and violet-laced colour, glass-staining berry fruit, clear limestone influence, sappy and a little austere, slate and juice. Muscular in its colour and aromatics on the attack, then it contracts halfway through the palate and the grippy tannins come into play. A yield of 36hl/ha. Good stuff.

Score: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2028 - 2040 Date: 19 May 2021