{"product_id":"2018-connetable-de-talbot-saint-julien-chateau-talbot","title":"Connétable de Talbot, Saint-Julien, Château Talbot 2018","description":"\u003ch3\u003eHow it tastes\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlack cherry and cassis with cedar, spice and a graphite edge running underneath. Full-bodied and round, the acidity moderate and the tannins beautifully integrated, holding a persistent finish. Merlot 57%, Cabernet Sauvignon 43%.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eChâteau Talbot is the 4ème Grand Cru Classé of Saint-Julien, and unusually its 110 hectares sit in one unbroken block on alluvial gravel hilltops laid down by the Dordogne. The Cordier family has held the estate for over a century; Nancy Bignon-Cordier leads it today, with Jean-Michel Laporte as general manager since 2018 and Jean-Max Drouilhet making the wine since 2007. Vines are planted at 7,700 to the hectare, average thirty years old and are held to forty-five hectolitres per hectare, with traditional four-way ploughing, a manual harvest and HVE Level 3 certification for sustainability. Connétable, created in the 1970s, was one of the first Médoc second wines: the fruit was dried in a warm-air tunnel, sorted by hand, optically and by flotation, fermented in temperature-controlled steel and aged sixteen months in French oak, 20% of it new. 2018 brought early rain then a long hot summer, giving ripe, concentrated wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFood and drinking\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eServe at 17–18°C. Good with roast beef, slow-cooked lamb shoulder, duck confit, or a board of hard cheeses. Drinking well now and over the next five to eight years; an hour in a decanter helps.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Talbot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58476130599295,"sku":"HNW-4253318A","price":47.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0551\/4192\/4998\/files\/4253318A.jpg?v=1789919390","url":"https:\/\/www.edkawines.com\/products\/2018-connetable-de-talbot-saint-julien-chateau-talbot","provider":"Edka Wines","version":"1.0","type":"link"}