Chateau Talbot St. Julien Bordeaux, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Chateau Talbot St. Julien, Fourth Growth with wine tasting notes and wine with food pairing tips. Learn the best vintages, a history of the property, information on vineyards and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all the best Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Talbot Overview and History

Legend has it that Chateau Talbot takes its name from an ancient British soldier, Connetable Talbot. In 1453, Talbot was killed during the Battle of Castillon, and the estate was named in his honor. Jumping ahead a few hundred years, Chateau Talbot remained in the hands of the d’Aux-Lally family until 1917, when the Cordier family bought the property.

The Cordier family were well-known in Bordeaux as negociants decades. And more importantly, they were responsible for distributing 100% of the wine from Chateau Talbot. That is no longer the case as the wines are now sold openly on the Place de Bordeaux to a wide variety of negociants.

The Cordier family were experienced owners as they possessed Chateau Gruaud Larose as well other vineyards including Chateau Senejac in the Haut Medoc appellation when they purchased the property.

Chateau Talbot the Modern Era

Over the past several years, the family has invested in improving the quality of their Left Bank wines as well as the vineyards, wine-making facilities, and barrel cellars.

In 2007 Talbot changed direction in an effort to improve their wine. One of their first decisions was to hire Stephane Derenoncourt as their consultant. Prior to working with Stephane Derenoncourt, following picking, Talbot used to place the berries in a tunnel that blew warm air to remove excess moisture. That practice is no longer used today.

Wanting to take advantage of every possibility for making the most of their terroir at Chateau Talbot, they have two consultants, Stephane Derenoncourt and Eric Boissenot.

To further the potential of Chateau Talbot, they finished a complete renovation of their cellars, wine-making facilities, vat rooms, and barrel cellars in 2016. The improvement can be seen in the beautiful, angular, modern, architectural cellar design. Take note of all its custom handles, which are in the shape of the letter T, as well as in the increased quality of the wines from coming from Chateau Talbot today.

Another recent change has been to pick fruit at higher degrees of ripeness while increasing their levels of sorting and reducing their yields.

Chateau Talbot has also begun experimenting with the Genodics system in their Medoc vineyards. The Genodics system emits various sounds and frequencies to enhance or curtail the growth of proteins in the vines.

The hope is that the various levels of frequencies reduce or remove the ability of parasites and diseases from developing. In late 2017, following the harvest, Jean-Michel Laporte was named the director of the estate, a position he previously held at Chateau La Conseillante in Pomerol.

Lorraine Cordier and Nancy Bignon-Cordier, the daughters of Jean Cordier own and manage Chateau Talbot today.

Chateau Talbot Vineyard, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The sizeable 107-hectare vineyard of Chateau Talbot is planted to 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 4.5% Petit Verdot, and 1.5% Cabernet Franc. This shows a decrease in the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon that was planted in the vineyard as recently as the mid, 1990s.

With 102 hectares of vines, Chateau Talbot has one of the largest vineyards in the Medoc, and even more interestingly, that makes Talbot a contender for the biggest vineyard in the Left Bank that is in one large, single block of vines.

Although their vineyard takes a few twists, turns, and angles, here and there, it is truly a single, massive parcel of vines. They have good neighbors, as their vineyard abuts vines from Chateau Leoville Las Cases, Leoville Barton, and Leoville Poyferre.

Chateau Talbot also occupies the highest elevations in the Saint Julien appellation at 23 meters at its peak elevation. The terroir is mostly gravel, sand, and clay soils over sandstone, clay, sand, and iron, which is just below the surface.

There is also a small section of land, about 5 hectares devoted to the production of white Bordeaux wine made from plantings of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Talbot Caillou Blanc is one of the oldest white Bordeaux wines produced in the Medoc, with vintages dating back to the 1930s.

The white wine vines are planted to 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon in a cooler terroir that has much more clay in the soil. The vines for the red wine are on average around 30 years old. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 7,700 vines per hectare.

Chateau Talbot Winemaking

To produce the red wine of Chateau Talbot, the wine is vinified in a combination of temperature-controlled, large, truncated, wood vats and stainless steel tanks.

The stainless steel tanks are used only for the young vines. The wine of Chateau Talbot is then aged in 50% to 60% new, French oak barrels for an average of 14-16 months. On average, the production of the Grand Vin is close to 25,000 cases per year of Chateau Talbot.

The best vintages of Chateau Talbot are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2009, 2005, 1986, 1982 and 1961. Older vintages of Chateau Talbot are said to have the ability to age, so they might be worth taking a risk on when buying at auction.

Chateau Talbot White Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Talbot also produces a white Bordeaux wine called Le Caillou Blanc. Le Caillou Blanc is the only white wine produced in the Saint Julien appellation. In fact, it is also one of the first white Bordeaux wines ever produced in the Medoc.

The first vintages of Talbot Le Caillou Blanc came out in the 1930s. There is a second wine, Connetable Talbot as well as a third wine, Seigneur de Talbot.

When to Drink Chateau Talbot, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Talbot can be enjoyed on the young side with several hours of decanting. However, the wine is usually better at 7-10 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage character.

In the best years, the wine will best between 12 and 20 to 25 years of age after the vintage. Young vintages can be decanted for an average of 2 hours. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume.

Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Older vintages, from the 1950s, 1960’s and 1980’s seem to age better than the current years. But time will tell.

Serving Chateau Talbot with the Best Wine, Food, Pairing Tips

Chateau Talbot is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Talbot is best served with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, stewed, and grilled dishes. Talbot is also good when served with Asian dishes, hearty seafood, or richly textured fish like tuna, mushrooms, pasta, and cheese.

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