Most of us, myself included, could never afford a bottle of this wine, which sells for hundreds of dollars per bottle.  Their first official release was 1996, but the owner of the vineyard had been messing around with it for a few years before that.  The owner, the Count de Neipperg who also owned the famed Canon-La-Gaffeliere, was trying to figure out what to do with the La Mondotte vineyard, and was apparently trying to include it's grapes in the Canon wine, but was told by French authorities he could not (sort of a false advertising problem).  In 1995, he realized that he was able to produce good wine from La Mondotte and did not need to just sell off the grapes or use them for his other winery.  He then went into official production in 1996.  At least this is the understanding that I have of this chateau.  Interestingly, the 1995 vintage often sells at retailers for about the same price as the "real vintages", but can sell for a fraction of the cost at auctions.  I picked up 3 bottles for about $40 each several months ago (at auction).  It seemed like a great deal, given the "regular price" fetched for this wine (the 1996 sells for about 300 dollars!!!!).

I was very disappointed with the wine.  Sure, it was pretty decent, but it was barely worth my 40 bucks.  I'm glad I did not spend $300 (not that I have that kind of money anyways).  1995 was a good year in Bordeaux, so the wine should have been better.  None of the bottles was all that special, and as I said, I had three.  So either they were not stored properly, or the wine is just not as good as it was cracked up to be, at least for the 1995 vintage.  There are no professional reviews of the 1995 vintage, since it was never meant for widespread distribution.  I'm not sure how the bottles that are out there came to be.  They have official corks and labels, and are sold at reputable wine shops.  Maybe it is a hoax; I am just not sure.  The story is that the 1995 bottles were given away by the winery, or just sold to local shops as an experiment to see if it would be well received.  When the wine was well received, the decision was made the next year to go to formal production.  The rest, as they say, is history, and the wines have become sone of the most sought after wine in the world.  So yes, it was very good wine, but not the 98 point blockbuster that subsequent vintages have been anointed to.  I give it a disappointing 3 stars.  Once again, is the wine overhyped, or is the 1995 version not a reliable barometer?  If anyone wants to give me a subsequent vintage, we can answer the question definitively!