This blockbuster 2005 is dense ruby/purple, with sweet black cherries, cassis, earth and white chocolate in both aromas and flavors. A strong, mineral-dominated, powerful wine (90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc), it is extremely backward, super-concentrated, and tasting more like blood of Merlot than any other Pomerol. Dense purple, super-rich, and stunning, this wine has at least a 20- to 30-year upside to it. An absolutely spectacular effort from this great terroir, it can be drunk now, but patience will be rewarded. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2040.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #219, Jun 2015)

This is from the first great vintage of the new era. By this point in time there were smaller tanks that allowed more accuracy between the vineyard and cellar, and more precision in harvesting with small baskets and fine-tuning of sorting (separating out parts of plots that they weren't happy with, hence the arrival of L'Espérance a few years later). The 2005 is just right on the cusp between tight young fruit and a more complex array of ageing characteristics and it's gorgeous. It has rich, sweet fruit, wonderful balance, clear liquorice alongside olive paste, chocolate and cassis puree, all still embraced by firm but flexible tannins. You're going to want to get hold of this wine if you're a fan of classic Pomerol seduction. Drinking Window 2019 - 2040
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Decanter's Bordeaux Fine Wine Encounter, The Landmark Hotel, 08 Jun 2019)
Part of Taming Château Trotanoy: Wines from 1998 to 2018

Gorgeous, with fig bread, licorice root, ganache and loam notes, this sports a hefty profile, with dark, earthy components matched to a well of mulled black currant and blackberry fruit. Shows a strong spine through the finish, revealing a tug of graphite that won't quit. Needs to wait.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 2,750 cases made. — JM

The 2005 Trotanoy is still a very young wine. Even so, it has aged exquisitely, with all of the elements very nicely balanced. There is plenty of the tannic heft that is typical of this site, but the tannins are very well integrated into the wine's fabric. Cedar, dried flowers, iron red berry fruit, mocha and dark reddish-leaning fruit all open with time in the glass. The stress of the warm, dry vintage is felt in the wine's searing tannins. I would cellar the 2005 for at least a few years, and then give it a good decanting to help those tannins soften a bit. Tasted two times.

This has a captivating nose of blueberries, spices, and fresh lilacs. On the palate this offers a full body, serious intensity, and great acidity and richness. This is a wonderful wine that shows great contrast and wildness.

The 2005 Trotanoy replicated its previous showings. It still has a dense, almost impenetrable bouquet, layer upon layer of intense red fruit lacked with bay leaf, black truffle, those iris and violets (particularly the first on this occasion.) The palate is even more structured here than I remember it in Hong Kong back in November 2016: huge backbone, great depth but everything is alleviated by the silver thread of acidity. I would not go near this for another decade but to repeat my previous sentiments – what enormous potential. Served by Christian Moueix at lunch.

Dark, brick-edged ruby; ripe and sweet, intense and fine to smell; full, concentrated, fresh, and firmly yet finely tannic, a lovely balance; sweet fruited, long and fleshy, gently spicy, complex and with a most toothsome vitality, and a fine, subtly spiced, very persistent aftertaste. A most seductive combination of ripeness, freshness and concentration. Grand Trotanoy. 2022-40+

Good bright, dark red. Sexy red berries, iron, mocha and caramel on the nose; an essence of Pomerol merlot. Suave on entry, then sweet but gripping in the middle, with integrated acidity giving terrific definition and thrust to the multifaceted flavors of red berries, minerals, iron and spices. A wonderfully vibrant wine that saturates the entire palate without conveying any impression of weight. With its finishing medicinal austerity, this outstanding wine appears already to be shutting down in bottle. Should prove to be the most exciting vintage for this chateau since the great 1998.