"100% Merlot again in 2020 which, with its unique soil – a dense mixture of clay and gravel with iron rich “crasse de fer” underneath – offers a stunning wine in this vintage.  Trotanoy appears to wear the hot and dry heart of the growing season almost casually on its sleeve…. Opaque ruby colour. The nose is fathomlessly dark and meaty, still muted at this early stage but with flashes of deepest red and black fruit perfume. The palate possesses an almost eery (that word again) combination of sensuously rich, clenched fruit and massive extract but the whole is flawlessly balanced with a lifted freshness that holds these profound ingredients quite effortlessly.  Terrific concentration to the sweet/dry, sustained finish.  “A velvet fist in an iron glove”, I scribbled rather uselessly. Tremendous wine. C&B Score 18-18.5Drinking dates: 2035 - 2050"