The vineyard was created in the mid 17th century by the Fontemoing family, who were wine merchants in Libourne and owned several other properties, including Château Canon. They were followed by the Giraud family, and at the end of the 17th century the wine was known as ¿Pomerol-Giraud Cru de Trotanoy¿. The name Trotanoy comes from a characteristic of its exceptional terroir. This consists of a mixture of clay-gravel and clay soil. As a result, in the summer, during dry, hot periods, the high proportion of clay causes the soil to become extremely hard and difficult to work, earning it the name ¿trop ennuy¿ (¿too much trouble¿).
In the 19th century, the property covered 25 hectares, but sales, splits and and inheritances reduced it to half this size by the 1920s. After the war, Trotanoy was sold to the Pecresse family and then to Jean-Pierre Moueix in 1953.
The property's vines, with an average age of 25 years, escaped the frosts in 1956, but many of them were weakened, and a vast replanting programme was initiated in the 1970s. As a result, the wines produced in the 1980s were lighter. Vinified using the same methods as Petrus, the wines are aged for 12 to 18 months in oak barrels, with a percentage of new wood that varies from 50 to 66% depending on the year. Unfiltered before being bottled, the wines present a remarkable richness and intensity, developing aromas of cherries and raspberries. Extremely consistent, even in the lesser vintages of the 1970s, Trotonoy has now returned to its former best and since 1995 has been close on the heels of Petrus at tastings.
