Château Talbot, Saint-Julien: vintages, prices, pairings

The vintages on the price list

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Three wines, one estate

Same estate, same team, three different uses.

Château Talbot

The grand vin. Mostly cabernet sauvignon, with merlot, from one of the largest vineyards in Saint-Julien. Known for being softer and ready sooner than its neighbours, it still keeps for twenty years and more in good years.

Connétable de Talbot

The second wine: younger vines and lots not kept for the first wine. Ready at around four or five years, it carries the château's name at a third of the price. It's a wine for a celebration meal rather than for the cellar.

Caillou Blanc

The estate's white, under the Bordeaux appellation (the Médoc has no village appellation for white). Mostly sauvignon blanc, a little sémillon. Fresh in its first years, fuller with time.

The name is said to come from Constable Talbot, the English commander defeated at Castillon in 1453, at the end of the Hundred Years' War. The second wine bears his title. To know when a second wine is the right choice and when it isn't, see the second wine of a great château page. The other châteaux of the appellation are on the Saint-Julien wines page.

Talbot's vineyard covers 110 hectares in a single block around the house, on free-draining rises of fine Günz gravel over a clay base. 105 hectares are red: 70% cabernet sauvignon, 26% merlot, 4% petit verdot. The 5 hectares of white, 80% sauvignon and 20% sémillon, make the Caillou Blanc. The château's technical sheets give 2009 at 65% cabernet, harvested from 29 September to 13 October; 2019 at 69%, with 14.1% alcohol; 2020 at 76%, for a yield of only 35 hl/ha, against 46 in 2019.

What to serve it with

Château Talbot: lamb first, roast or as a seven-hour leg (see what wine with lamb), rib of beef (what wine with beef), game birds for the oldest vintages (what wine with game).
Connétable de Talbot: grilled meats, duck breast, a board of firm cheeses. The wine for a big meal where people talk more than they taste.
Caillou Blanc: firm-fleshed fish (what wine with fish), oysters and seafood when it's young (what wine with oysters).

Which vintage for which occasion

For a birthday, a birth year or a wedding year is better than the greatest year in the table: the birth-year vintage page says, year by year, what is still drinking well. As a gift, the original wooden case does the work. For a dinner for two or a tasting of several years side by side, half bottles, when there are any, save opening three full bottles. For a birth, a recent vintage from a great year, to open in eighteen years.

Is Château Talbot a grand cru classé?

Yes. It is a fourth growth (quatrième grand cru classé) in the 1855 classification, in the Saint-Julien appellation, at the same rank as Beychevelle, Branaire-Ducru and Saint-Pierre. Connétable de Talbot, its second wine, and Caillou Blanc, its white, are not classified: the classification applies to the grand vin alone.

What is the difference between Château Talbot and Connétable de Talbot?

Same estate, same team, same cellars. The grand vin comes from the best plots and the oldest vines and keeps for twenty years and more; the Connétable comes from younger vines and lots set aside from the first wine, is drunk sooner and costs two to three times less.

When should you drink a Château Talbot?

Allow eight years before opening it and twenty-five years of good drinking, a little more in a great year, a little less in a weak year or in half bottle. The table applies this rule to each line; it isn't a tasting note, and a badly stored bottle ages faster.

Are the prices shown the prices on the quote?

They're the guide prices from the price list, incl. VAT, per bottle of the format, excluding delivery. The quote confirms the price, the availability of each vintage and the shipping; the delivery grid gives the lead times. For a question about a vintage not in the table, the quote request is still open.