- 18.0.2022
- Press
For the “How To Spend It” category, Maria Shollenbarger, a journalist at the Financial Times, writes about her experience at Château Troplong Mondot. She highlights that “hospitality is cultivated with as much care as the vines on the hillsides.” In this article, published in May 2022, she describes the Hospitality Offer, summarized here in a few key extracts.
"Hospitality is cultivated as assiduously as the vines on the slopes"
[...] Troplong Mondot sits 110m above sea level, thehighest point in the St-Émilion commune – a good thing not just for aeration, but also for pretty views. Low, undulating countryside unfurls in every direction, covered in quilts of alternating vineyard and woodland stitched together by meandering two-lane roads [...] De Gironde joined Troplong Mondot after several years as managing director at Cos d’Estournel [...] Steadily since his arrival (including doggedly throughout the pandemic), he’s crafted various accommodations and experiences, all very different from each other but all on an appropriate scale to the place itself. “There’s an emotional connection that we now need to have with our consumer,” he tells me. “We have to convey our message, our ethos, and to do this we tell them our story.” He thinks that story – wine, food, landscape, people – is best told in person, at home.
The long, two-storey building next to the Château, known as Les Clefs (“the keys”), now housesa three-suite maison d’hôtes. The design is contemporary French country, with wide plank or terracotta floors, sisal rugs, custom tile work and a few well-judged hits of toile de Jouy. Walls are painted carnelian or oatmeal or august grey-blue. Plenty of charm, but zero clutter, due more to the vast amounts of space than to restraint. The largest of them spans much of the first floor, with its own sitting room. Downstairs are multiple lounge areas, foozball and bridge tables, and a flagstone terrace where breakfast is served on sunny days.
The Vineyard House is a two-bedroom cottage with rustic beamed ceilings, and is a win for families or couples travelling together [...] Guests of both Les Clefs and The Vineyard House are free to roam the estate, walking down the western slope face to visit the 12 sturdy draft horses still used to turn the soil between vines, or to circumnavigate the property on paths and roads that trace a rough ring around it.
But the 1745 Château, only recently made available to guests, is the real Troplong Mondot showpiece – and its most exclusive stay: whether they number two or 10, they buy out the whole property (and access to the lion’s share of the private experiences) [...] One dining room boasts a glass wall filled with Troplong Mondot vintages; the other holds a handmade table that seats 20. Upstairs, the five bedrooms feel a bit more place-specific, with inlaid limestone floors in the bathrooms, and beds laid with matelassé coverlets and hand-stitched linens.
Throughout, the Troplong Mondot team is there to tailor the Château guests’ days and evenings. St-Émilion [...] Vertical tastings and blending sessions are organised in the winery, the restaurant or the Château [...] And de Gironde genuinely loves walking the land in company, going deep on details of organic viticulture, replanting, exposition and cultivation, and the area’s history, about which he’s deeply knowledgeable.
Fine wine is easy to come by; but if the true story of terroir is what you’re after, you’ll find a very thoughtfully narrated version here.
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