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- Chateau Tronquoy-Lalande Saint-Estephe 2016
Chateau Tronquoy-Lalande Saint-Estephe 2016
Country of Origin: France
Chateau Tronquoy Lalande takes its name fittingly from the family that owned the chateau in its formative years, the Tronquoy family. After they sold the estate in 1859, it passed through several owners before becoming part of the well-known Casteja family holdings, who purchased the vineyard in 1968.
In 2006, Chateau Tronquoy Lalande was purchased by Martin Bouygues and Olivier Bouygues from the Casteja family. The Bouygues brothers earned their fortune in the telecommunications industry.
The 30 hectare Saint Estephe vineyard of Chateau Tronquoy Lalande is planted to 52% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Petit Verdot. This represents a large shift in the vineyard since the new owners took control. Now, you find much more Merlot and less Cabernet Sauvignon.
With a total of 18 planted hectares of vines, the vineyard is planted to a density of 9,000 vines per hectare. The vines are on average, close to 25 years of age. The terroir is mostly gravel with some clay in the soils. The vineyard is located inland from Chateau Montrose.
To produce the wine of Chateau Tronquoy Lalande, vinification takes place in 22 geothermal powered, stainless steel tanks. The tanks allow for parcel by parcel vinification. The tanks were made with a slight pitch or tilt at the bottom of the vat. The purpose is to allow the wine maker to capture more the press wine.
The additional press wine that is recovered utilizing this method is of better quality. The reason behind it, is that it does not require mechanical actions to be produced. Gentle actions do produce softer, more elegant wine, which of course lends more softness to Tronquoy Lalande. All of these changes have clearly improved the quality here, giving the wine more finesse, softer, more gentle textures and much better purity of fruit.