2014 Château Talbot, St Julien, Bordeaux

2014 Château Talbot, St Julien, Bordeaux

Product: 20148011853
Prices start from £250.00 per case Buying options
2014 Château Talbot, St Julien, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £250.00
BBX marketplace BBX 2 cases £255.00
BBX marketplace BBX 4 cases £260.00
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3 x 150cl magnum
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Description

A very solid performer both in terms of quality and pricing. It is very difficult to find any cheap back vintage of Ch. Talbot and when we do it is always at a higher price that release. The 2014 made under the watchful eyes of the famous consultant Stephane Derenoncourt is a stunner. Blackcurrant and cherries on the nose with a touch of cedar, one of the most focused and fresh wine of the appellation, lovely concentration and depth on the palate, bags of black fruits in the middle and and excellent finish with firm but ripe tannins. Serious and structured it will provide customers with generous fresh early drinking while having all the ingredients for long term cellaring. Definitely one to watch.
Max Lalondrelle, Fine Wine Buying Director/Bordeaux Buyer

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Critics reviews

Antonio Galloni, Vinous92+
Ample and broad on the palate, the 2014 Talbot captures the essence of the vintage with an enticing mélange of fresh blue and purplish-hued fruits. Graphite, lavender, mint and sweet spices waft from the glass as the 2014 gradually opens up. At times, Talbot is muscular and powerful, while at other moments it comes across as much more feminine. It is precisely those contrasts that make the 2014 so intriguing. Polished, silky tannins wrap around the super-inviting finish. The 2014 was vinified in cement and steel, with pump overs only. The blend is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, while new oak is around 50%.
Antonio Galloni - vinousmedia.com - Apr 2015 Read more
Wine Advocate90+/100
The 2014 Talbot felt reticent and tightly knit on the nose, so I placed my glass to one side and allowed it to aerate for 15-20 minutes. This paid dividends as it revealed blackcurrant, smoke and tobacco aromas, hints of boysenberry with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, quite structure and perhaps needing more flow. It feels a little rigid at the moment and I would want more persistence and depth on the finish. Let's see how this ages in bottle, because it certainly showed improvement between samples in October 2016 and February 2017.
Neal Martin - 31/03/2017 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW16+/20
Dark purplish crimson. Sweet, almost bonbon nose. But a bit short of juice on the palate. Hard work and drying on the end. May come right eventually but for the moment it is much more obdurate than its neighbours.
Jancis Robinson MW - jancisrobinson.com - Apr 2015 Read more
Decanter16.75+/20
Deep colour and rich fruit – good blackberry spice and quite smooth flavours. Will open up early but can last.
Steven Spurrier - decanter.com - Apr 2015 Read more
Other90+
The 2014 Talbot has a ripe and generous bouquet with black cherries, boysenberry and light violet petal aromas that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chewy and chunky tannin, good weight in the mouth if just missing the finesse of its peers towards the finish. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Neal Martin, vinous.com Read more

About this WINE

Chateau Talbot

Chateau Talbot

Château Talbot is one of the best-known Bordeaux wine estates to a UK audience, not surprisingly because it takes its name from John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who in 1453 suffered the ignominy of losing the  battle, and with it his life, which allowed Bordeaux and its vineyards to slip back into French control after belonging to the British Crown for over 340 years.

In the last century it has been owned by the Cordier family, and the red wine of the estate has long enjoyed a reputation for solid dependability. It is one of the largest estates in the Médoc and its 102 hectare single vineyard is situated inland from the Gironde River and west of the hamlet of St-Julien-Beychevelle.

Georges Cordier, who owned the property in the mid-20th century, was a great lover of white wine, and, determined to produce his own, took the highly unusual step of planting 5 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon in his vineyard, producing his first crop of white wine in 1945 (Le Caillou Blanc de Ch Talbot). The aim is to make wine in a Burgundian style, aged in oak barrels, with the 80% Sauvignon Blanc imparting vivacity and acidity, while the 20% Semillon imbues the wine with weight, backbone and ageing potential.

Red wine from Talbot is typically a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (66%), Merlot (26%), Cabernet Franc (3%), and Petit Verdot (5%) - the vinification includes 18 months maturation in small oak barriques (50% new).

Talbot has a reputation for consistency and is one of the most carefully made and reliable of the St-Julien Cru Classé clarets. The best examples are richly aromatic with a bouquet of cedarwood and vanilla scented cassis fruits and with a palate packed with well-delineated, ripe, black fruits and finely integrated tannins. It is classified as a 4ème Cru Classé.
 

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St Julien

St Julien

St Julien is the smallest of the "Big Four" Médoc communes. Although, without any First Growths, St Julien is recognised to be the most consistent of the main communes, with several châteaux turning out impressive wines year after year. 

St Julien itself is much more of a village than Pauillac and almost all of the notable properties lie to its south. Its most northerly château is Ch. Léoville Las Cases (whose vineyards actually adjoin those of Latour in Pauillac) but,  further south, suitable vineyard land gives way to arable farming and livestock until the Margaux appellation is reached.  

The soil is gravelly and finer than that of Pauillac, and without the iron content which gives Pauillac its stature. The homogeneous soils in the vineyards (which extend over a relatively small area of just over 700 hectares) give the commune a unified character.

The wines can be assessed as much by texture as flavour, and there is a sleek, wholesome character to the best. Elegance, harmony and perfect balance and weight, with hints of cassis and cedar, are what epitomise classic St Julien wines. At their very best they combine Margaux’s elegance and refinement with Pauillac’s power and substance.

Ch. Léoville Las Cases produces arguably the most sought-after St Julien, and in any reassessment of the 1855 Classification it would almost certainly warrant being elevated to First Growth status.

Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Léoville Las CasesCh.Léoville Barton, Ch Léoville Poyferré, Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou, Ch Langoa Barton, Ch Gruaud Larose, Ch. Branaire-Ducru, Ch. Beychevelle

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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