Talbot 2020

Full bottle 1,350 g. Cask sample taken 2 April. 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot. Aged in barrel, 60% new.Dark crimson. Savoury, saline nose. Luscious palate entry with ripe fruit that almost smothers the tannin. A very good effort from Talbot with velvety tannins in profusion and some winning perfume too. This is doing well under ex-Conseillante Jean-Michel Laporte. 13.3%Drink 2029 – 2046

(76% CS, 21% M, 3% PV; 13.3% ABV; 60% new)Dense, fresh black-fruit and gravel impressions to smell; medium-full, fresh to crisp in acidity, very fine in firm tannin, classic, elegant, St-Julien balance; crisply ripe flavor, gently fleshy-cored, defined by a brisk acidity, and with just a touch of austerity, but fine, close-grained, quite complex, and with good length. Very good rather than grande année quality and character, just not the “ease” of, for example, the 2018 or 2019 here. Will certainly need time—a decade at least, I would say. 2030–45+.

The 2020 Talbot exhibits aromas of cassis and plums mingled with hints of clove, violets and toasty new oak. Medium to full-bodied, with a rich core of fruit, powdery tannins and lively acids, it's quite strongly marked by its élevage out of the gates, and it's an open question for me as to whether there's enough depth here to integrate the barrel program and reassert its Saint-Julien identity. On each of the three occasions I tasted it, it left me wanting more. 90?

The 2020 Talbot contains the highest degree of Cabernet Sauvignon to date (76%). It has developed a wonderful, classically-styled nose built around black fruit laced with mint and graphite. The palate is very well balanced and again, classic in style, a touch of wild mint intimating Pauillac instead of Saint-Julien. The mid-palate demonstrates the weight that was missing in vintages of the Nineties. Plenty of freshness on the finish - this is an impressive Talbot.

The 2020 Talbot has a fragrant nose with black cherries, bilberry, wild mint and chalk, quite harmonious and gaining intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet, almost candied opening, predominantly red berry fruit laced with mint and orange zest, and a liberal sprinkling of black pepper. I admire the way this Talbot builds so that it finishes with a flourish. This may well land at the top of my banded score. 2026 - 2055

Deep purple-black colored, the 2020 Talbot storms out of the glass with powerful blackcurrants, raspberry leaves and baked plums scents, followed by suggestions of dried Mediterranean herbs, tobacco leaf and graphite. The medium-bodied palate delivers lovely freshness and an approachable chewiness, nicely framing the herb-laced black fruits, finishing savory. 2024 - 2038