Mondotte - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020

Vinous

93,5-93,5

byNeal Martinthe2/28/2025

The 2020 La Mondotte has another concentrated, ripe and opulent bouquet with lavish kirsch and blueberry scents. It's a bit ferrous in style but gains coherence and complexity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a pliant entry, fine acidity and a savory finish. It's not amazingly complex, and it needs a bit more length. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Alexandre Ma

97

byAlexandre Mathe4/18/2023

Wine Advocate

96.00

byWilliam Kelleythe4/6/2023

I typically have a weakness for Canon-la-Gaffelière, with its high percentage of Cabernet Franc, in the Von Neipperg portfolio. But this year, it's the 2020 La Mondotte that takes center stage, offering up aromas of dark berries, plums, licorice, incense and vine smoke, followed by a medium to full-bodied, layered and vibrant palate of striking harmony and concentration. It's the most seamless, complete wine I've ever tasted from this brilliant clay-limestone terroir.

Wine Spectator

95

byJames Molesworththe3/31/2023

Shows the warmth of the vintage with a dark plum, boysenberry and black currant core but manages it well, with sleek, well-embedded chalky minerality providing a serious spine, while sweet tobacco, alder and loam accents peek in on the fruit throughout. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2030 through 2040. 1,500 cases made, 140 cases imported.

Jeb DUNNUCK

99

byJeb Dunnuckthe3/30/2023

Just about pure perfection, the 2020 La Mondotte comes from a tiny parcel of limestone soils on the upper plateau, not far from Troplong Mondot. Mostly Merlot with a small amount of Cabernet Franc, its deep purple hue is followed by a brilliant bouquet of crème de cassis, crushed stone, graphite, mulled black cherries, and hints of truffle. Full-bodied, incredibly elegant yet also concentrated and flawlessly balanced, it's as good as anything in the vintage. Give bottles 4-6 years in the cellar, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 2-3 decades.

The Wine Cellar Insider

97

byJeff Levethe3/22/2023

Concentrated, graceful, full-bodied, rich and intense, the array of black, red and blue fruits all touched by accents of crushed rocks and stones hit all the right notes in the nose and on the palate. The mid-palate and finish, with their layers of salt-tinted, perfectly ripe fruits, licorice, mocha, and spice go on and on, leaving you with streams of bitter chocolate, plum liqueur and sea-salts that linger for more than 50 seconds! Not much wine is made here. In fact, the production was about 1,200 cases. Drink from 2026-2055.

Alexandre Ma

97

byAlexandre Mathe3/15/2023

Vinous

97

byAntonio Gallonithe2/24/2023

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.

Vinous

96

byNeal Martinthe2/15/2023

The 2020 La Mondotte has altered since tasting it from barrel, closing in a little, becoming less sensual and more "serious". Blackberry intermingles with raspberry coulis, cedar and a very subtle star anis scent with superb delineation and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins. Like the aromatics, it has become more intellectual during its élevage, more saline, slightly granular in texture with a harmonious yet understated finish that lingers long in the mouth. Sophisticated.

Vinous

95-97

byAntonio Gallonithe6/1/2021

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.

Jeb DUNNUCK

96-98

byJeb Dunnuckthe5/28/2021

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.

Vinous

95-97

byNeal Martinthe5/27/2021

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!

Decanter.com

94

byJane Ansonthe5/25/2021

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.

The Wine Cellar Insider

98-100

byJeff Levethe5/21/2021

Intensely colored, the aromatic profile, with its licorice, blackberry, bitter chocolate, plum liqueur. crushed rocks and stones get noticed quickly. On the palate, the wine is concentrated, full-bodied and ntense. Picture a giant gulp of ripe black plums, blue fruits, licorice, cocoa and broken stones with salt coating your palate and expanding for at least 60 seconds. Not much wine is made here. In fact, the production was about 1,200 cases. Still young, give this stunner at least a decade and drink it over the next 3 decades or longer. 98-100

Jamessuckling.com

97-98

byJames Sucklingthe5/12/2021

This is really spicy and flavorful with a solid core of fruit and chewy tannins that are polished and very long, providing this wine with super structure and tension.

Bernard Burtschy

97-98

byBernard Burtschythe5/10/2021

Falstaff

95-97

byPeter Moserthe5/10/2021

Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Mit feiner Edelholzwürze unterlegte schwarze Waldbeeraromatik, Brombeeren, reife Kirschen, zart floraler Touch, kandierte Orangenzestzen unterlegt. Saftig, frische rote Fruchtnuancen, ein Hauch von Cassis und schwarze Kirschen, frisch strukturi- ert, feine Tannine, mineralisch-salzig im Abgang, wirkt erstaunlich leichtfüßig, reife Kirschenfrucht auch im Nachhall, ein delikater Speisenbegleiter.

My Bettane + Desseauve

95

by Bettane & Desseauvethe5/7/2021