1961 Chateau Talbot Saint Julien

1961 Chateau Talbot Saint Julien

A fourth growth property owned by the Cordier family 60 years ago, I opened a bottle tonight and served blind. Condition was excellent, much better than the bottle I had 5 years ago. I decanted it and consumed over a 2 hour dinner. Color was a bit of red bricky appearance. Bouquet was more red dried cherries. Initially the acidity was high, but mellowed down and drinking extremely well after about an hour, with very lively fruits. It’s really difficult to conceive this wine was produced 60 years ago, many wine connoisseurs tonight could not tell this wine was that old as the wine was so alive and dancing like a young dancer. Very enjoyable and certainly beyond my expectation.

18 Aug 2015
MY FAVORITE VINTAGE
I had a lot of great wines from 61, one of the greatest vintages in the last century. Usually the wine is very ripe, forward and extremely rich in content. However, this Talbot was probably the most disappointing 61 I ever had. It didn't have most of the 61 characters, and possesses acidic body, coupled with slightly lean and thin fruits. While it was still very drinkable, I was mildly disappointed the wine was not very 1961 like.