Château Talbot

The château

The name is the Connétable Talbot’s: Earl of Shrewsbury, governor of Guyenne, the English commander whom Bordeaux let in through its gates in 1452 and who lost the battle of Castillon in 1453. The d’Aux-Lally family held the estate until the Cordiers bought it in 1918. Désiré Cordier, who lived from 1861 to 1940, was followed by his son Georges, his grandson Jean and Jean’s daughters Lorraine and Nancy; Nancy Bignon-Cordier heads the estate today with her husband, Jean-Paul Bignon, and Jean-Michel Laporte has been general manager since 2018.

A single block of 111 hectares is rare in the Médoc. The vines stand on ancient Quaternary gravel at 7,700 to the hectare, 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, 42 years old on average. About 280,000 bottles are made, after 14 to 16 months in oak, 50% to 60% of it new, and the estate holds Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3. Connétable Talbot, the second wine, dates from the 1970s. Caillou Blanc, a white from 5 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, goes back further: its vintages reach to the 1930s.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Julien

Classification

Quatrième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

Nancy Bignon-Cordier and Jean-Paul Bignon; the Cordier family since 1918

Direction

Jean-Michel Laporte, general manager, since 2018

Vineyard

111 hectares in a single block; 7,700 vines a hectare; vines 42 years old on average

Soil

Ancient Quaternary gravel Terroir of Saint-Julien →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Merlot 26%, Petit Verdot 4%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

14 to 16 months in oak, 50% to 60% new

Production

About 280,000 bottles

Wines

Château Talbot; Connétable Talbot, since the 1970s; Caillou Blanc, from 5 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon