1970 CHATEAU TALBOT ST. JULIEN MEDOC- 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot; this was decanted briefly to determine viability after first noticing a decent fill to high shoulder and an encouraging dark purple color without any bricking; once tasted, I knew we had a good bottle here and the decant now served to remove an immense amount of sediment, some of which had collected on the side of the bottle and remained even after it had been stood up for a day; it was poured into a proper Bordeaux stem and the aromatics now were more distinct with nice, spicy, tobacco leaf and leather accented black currant; the taste profile also included slightly sweetened and milk chocolate laden dried blackberry and plum while being delivered in a super soft and smooth texture that allowed for it to just please more sensory components; this was a 50 year old wine that is still giving up its treasures with grace and charm and another amazing thing is it was steady in the glass for over 2 hours.
Oooof, let’s see… 6-8 years ago? Also one of from the 50s, which I ‘think’ was '55 but I have to check some old emails. What gets me with Talbot is totally the texture. William Kelley would have far more data points than I, but I’ve always thought of Talbot (strong vintage, especially) as a Bordeaux for Bordeaux-apprehensive folks… particularly the Burg only crowd . Even the '86, a vintage known for its tannic spine (a vintage I think has been much underrated as people drank too many too soon; so many '86s are drinking so marvelously now), the '86 Talbot was much more approachable in my handful of experiences.
Your note (soft structure, blue fruit notes) would echo mine (albeit filed way back in the memory bank). But the soft texture and touches of sweetness are what really stuck with me… Old Bordeaux with low alcohols, so long as still at least ‘medium’ fresh of fruit, has just a wondrous mouthfeel. I’ve always thought that ‘mouthfeel’ is very high on the list of ‘underrated’ wine qualities (especially of older wine).
I’ve had this a couple of times and it sounds like yours was better than my examples, which were quite a while ago. The bottles from that era were a trip!
I attempted to find out how long that embossment has been on the bottle, but did not come up with an informative source. I do not recall that being on more recent bottles from the 90s on, but I may not have put that in the memory banks.
Thanks Nick. Well stated and certainly in harmony with some of what I discovered in this bottle. And more to your point about mouthfeel, it`s usually at the top of my appreciation list in any wine where that exists.
. Even the '86, a vintage known for its tannic spine (a vintage I think has been much underrated as people drank too many too soon; so many '86s are drinking so marvelously now), the '86 Talbot was much more approachable in my handful of experiences.