Château Talbot 2003, Saint-Julien
3rd November 2008
Is Talbot slain, the Frenchmen’s only scourge,
Your kingdom’s terror and black Nemesis?
O, were mine eyeballs into bullets turn’d,
That I in rage might shoot them at your faces!
Shakespeare, Henry VI Part 1
Once upon a time a sizeable chunk of France lay in English hands, and it was the task of John Talbot, First Earl of Shrewsbury, to keep it that way. The old boy was good at his job. He won more than forty battles and in the process killed many revolting Frenchmen. Shakespeare called him “the great Alcides of the fields” and listed some of the titles a grateful Henry VI bestowed on him:
Great Earl of Washford, Waterford and Valence;
Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield,
Lord Strange of Blackmere, Lord Verdun of Alton,
Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, Lord Furnival of Sheffield,
The thrice-victorious Lord of Falconbridge;
Knight of the noble order of Saint George,
Worthy Saint Michael and the Golden Fleece.
Inevitably, Talbot’s luck ran out. As he fought to relieve the besieged town of Castillon, a bullet struck him in the thigh. He fell to the ground and was finished off by a French footsoldier. His defeat marked the end of the Hundred Years’ War and, to all intents and purposes, the English occupation of France.
Odd, then, that a Bordeaux should be named after him. There is no evidence that he or his family owned this estate, and it is hard to see why any Frenchman would want to commemorate one of his country’s occupiers. You will search in vain for a Château Bismarck or Château Hitler, so why Château Talbot?
I do not know the answer, but I can report that the wine is entirely worthy of the great Alcides. It is rich, smoky and complex, and its flavour develops with every mouthful: one moment flesh and leather, the next allspice, the next molasses. At $50 (£30) a bottle, it is not the stuff of everyday drinking, unless you happen to be Great Earl of Washford, Waterford and Valence, Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield, etc. But in its class it is very good value: you could easily pay $70 or $80 for another Bordeaux of this calibre.
