Wine Wednesday Recap: Château Trotanoy 2018 & A Massive Global Announcement 🇫🇷🍷
A 99–100 point Pomerol powerhouse from the owners of Petrus, the secrets of historic black clay, and the official launch of the long-awaited Collector Tier.
On this week’s livestream, winemaker Annabelle Borra (Vinos de Bellite) and I fought through a massive European heatwave to bring you a truly historic Right Bank icon. I tuned in directly from the construction site of my upcoming restaurant—surrounded by our newly delivered wine fridges. To beat the 34-degree heat, I was sipping a Chandon Orange Sparkling Spritz, while Annabelle joined from Pamplona with a cold glass of traditional Spanish house vermouth.
If you missed the live broadcast, here is your technical recap of the legendary 2018 allocation that went live for members this past Thursday, alongside the massive club alpha we spilled at the end of the night.
The Appellation & The Drop: Château Trotanoy 2018
For this week’s allocation, we returned to Pomerol—a tiny, highly exclusive corner of Bordeaux that famously operates with absolutely no official classification system. Instead, properties here rely strictly on market reputation and decade-after-decade quality to prove their value.
The Petrus Connection: Château Trotanoy is owned and managed by the legendary Jean-Pierre Moueix family—the exact same viticultural team behind Petrus. The Moueix family built the reputation of the entire appellation by focusing strictly on short chains and terroir-driven quality.
The “Black Clay” Bed: The estate spans a minuscule 7.2 hectares planted on the famous plateau of Pomerol. The soil is an ancient seabed rich in iron, gray gravel, and dense clay, which provides the vines with an incredible mineral backbone and unrivaled structural power.
The 2018 Vintage Architecture: The blend is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, fermented in traditional cement vats and aged in 50% new French oak. Annabelle was working harvest on the Right Bank during the 2018 season and detailed how a late flowering extended the growing cycle beautifully, giving the structural tannins time to develop a signature velvety texture.
The Critical Perfection: This library release commands flawless scores, including multiple 100-point ratings from prominent critics like Jeff Leve and Jeb Dunnuck. The Wine Advocate explicitly praised it as an “insanely beautiful” wine that speaks with a “regal aristocratic tone”.
The allocation dropped this past Thursday in pristine condition, released in limited single-bottle lots. Given that Pomerol’s tiny production footprint faces intense global scarcity, this 100-pointer is an absolute crown jewel for serious portfolios.
🚨 BIG ALPHA: Launching the Collector Tier on July 1st
We have been holding onto this secret since March, and we are finally ready to spill the beans. On July 1st, Club dVIN is officially launching the highly anticipated Collector Tier.
Earlier this spring, we permanently closed our lifetime legacy tiers (Genesis and Global Insider) to protect the lifetime benefits of our original, founding supporters. The incoming Collector Tier transitions the club into an annual subscription model priced at 500 Euros per year.
What You Get: Subscribed collectors unlock absolute access to our weekly, direct-from-estate wine allocations, unparalleled member pricing, transparent digital chain-of-custody tracking, and immaculate physical storage.
Early-Access Window: If you previously applied to the club but were waitlisted due to our strict legacy member caps, check your inbox. Anyone who previously expressed early interest will receive 24-hour priority access to secure their subscription before we open the gates to the general public on July 1st.
What’s Next? 📅
Keep your eyes on your inbox and our community channels. Now that the Collector Tier is launching on July 1st, we will be sharing the registration details and links for our upcoming July Wine Wednesday sessions very soon.
Catch the full live replay, hear Annabelle explain how the Dutch historically drained Bordeaux to satisfy a thirst for white wine, and watch us count down to the big announcement here: https://dvin.app/WWTrotanoy
Cheers,
Jana
Co-founder, dVIN Labs 🍷