A Serious St-Estèphe Vertical: Tronquoy 2014, 2020, and 2022
The Montrose Connection: One Ownership, Two Terroirs
There are few estates in Bordeaux where the trajectory is quite as compelling as Tronquoy. One of the historic properties of St-Estèphe, its vineyard sits on a superb gravel-and-clay plateau just inland from the Gironde. In 2006, Martin and Olivier Bouygues purchased the estate shortly after acquiring neighboring Château Montrose, and what followed was a massive investment in the vineyards and winery, including a complete modernization of the cellar. Rather than folding Tronquoy into Montrose, they treated it as a great terroir in its own right, but one that could benefit from the same resources, precision, and expertise. (You'll see both names on these bottles: the estate was labeled Tronquoy-Lalande through the 2010s and shortened its name to simply Tronquoy beginning with recent vintages — same property, same plateau.)
The 2014 Tronquoy-Lalande, St-Estèphe $39.99 95TWI captures both the estate and the vintage at a particularly compelling moment. 2014 was something of a northern Médoc vintage, with the long Indian summer particularly favorable to St-Julien, Pauillac, and St-Estèphe. Jane Anson later called 2014 in St-Estèphe “a vintage not to miss,” while Steven Spurrier went even further, naming St-Estèphe his commune of the vintage. The wines had freshness, structure, and terrific Cabernet character from the outset, and a decade of bottle age has only made the proposition more interesting. This is classic St-Estèphe from an estate already benefiting from the Montrose era, with the added dimension that only time can provide.
The 2020 Tronquoy, St-Estèphe $37.99 95JD 95VN shows how dramatically the quality curve continued upward. There is more depth, polish, and precision here, but it never loses the muscular, mineral character that makes St-Estèphe distinctive. Neal Martin awarded it 95 points after a blind tasting and called it the surprise performance of the group; Jeb Dunnuck also gave it 95 and ranked it among the finest vintages produced at the estate. By this point, the Montrose connection feels less like an interesting piece of ownership history and more like something you can see in the glass: seriousness, refinement, and an increasingly exacting expression of the site.
And then there is 2022 Tronquoy, St-Estèphe $39.99 96JD 96VN 95JS, born in one of the most extraordinary and groundbreaking Bordeaux vintages of the modern era. This is where everything seems to converge: an exceptional terroir, nearly two decades of investment under the Bouygues family, the expertise behind Montrose, and a vintage capable of delivering immense concentration without sacrificing freshness or precision. The blend is led by 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, unusually high for Tronquoy, and the wine has a level of intensity, structure, and completeness that pushes the estate into another realm. In a recent blind tasting, Neal Martin awarded it 96 points and specifically noted a symmetry that reminded him of Montrose. That feels like an especially telling comparison—not because Tronquoy is trying to be Montrose, but because the same level of ambition is increasingly apparent.
Three Vintages, One Trajectory
Taken together, these three vintages tell a remarkable story: the strength of the northern Médoc in 2014, the accelerating rise of Tronquoy in 2020, and the arrival of something truly special in 2022. Across all three is the unmistakable character of St-Estèphe—and the imprint of one of Bordeaux’s most serious ownership teams.
- Ryan Moses, K&L Bordeaux Buyer
FAQs
Is Tronquoy the same as Tronquoy-Lalande? Yes—same St-Estèphe estate; the name shortened to Tronquoy with recent vintages.
Who owns Château Tronquoy? Martin and Olivier Bouygues, who also own neighboring Château Montrose, purchased it in 2006.
What did critics score the 2022 Tronquoy? 96 points from Jeb Dunnuck, 96 from Neal Martin (Vinous), and 95 from James Suckling—$39.99 at K&L.