St.Julien lies a few miles to the north of Magaux, in the centre of the Haut Medoc. It is home to a wealth of famous chateaux, though no first growths it has loads of great second and third growth properties. St.Julien is a polyglot of the Medoc's best qualities. The wines can have the elegance of Margaux, the power and longevity of Pauillac and the distinctive cedar and blackcurrant nose of St.Estephe.
Tasting notes: Showing far more impressively from bottle than it ever did from cask, this wine has turned out to be an outstanding Langoa Barton. It reveals a deep, saturated purple color and an expansive, sweet nose of earthy black currants, plum, and melted licorice. Structured, dense, chewy, with full body, good acidity, and plenty of tannin, this is undeniably a wine for patient connoisseurs, or as the French say, a vin de garde. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2035.
Tasting notes: “Very minty, with blackberry and dark currant on the nose. Spicy too. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a spicy, floral and currant aftertaste. Solid and very pretty.”
Tasting notes: Ideally one would wait but this wine showed pretty well even at three years old and, like the 2004 burgundy, seemed to taste older in Korea than in Europe. (There are no specialist wine storage facilities so presumably importers have to be vigilant about their particular storage conditions. ) This didn’t taste tired, but rounder than I would have expected. Needs quite a bit of time yet ideally however.
Tasting notes: This wine has turned out to be more impressive from bottle than it was in cask. It is a charming, intensely-scented wine with a tell-tale olive, earth, grilled beef, and black currant-scented bouquet soaring from the glass. Medium to full-bodied, with low acidity, and round, luscious, richly fruity flavors, this is a meaty, fleshy, delicious Talbot that can be drunk now.
Tasting notes: A soft, sexy, near-term style of claret with a deep plum/ruby/purple-tinged color, a big, sweet nose of anise, creme de cassis, smoke, Provencal herbs, and some spice box, it is opulent, fleshy, not profoundly concentrated, but rich enough. Everything is nicely balanced with silky tannin and low acidity. Drink it over the next 12-14 years as this is a seductive wine.
