Langoa Barton 2022

The last few years have seen Langoa, in classically understated Barton way, turning into a barnstormer, with the value that was once reserved for Léoville. It's great in 2022, with its slightly cooler terroir really coming into its own. Luscious black cherry, sandalwood, campfire, crayon, crushed rocks, this is stuff, almost ready to go but will clearly deliver for decades.

56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, 2.5% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.Dark fruit with a touch of oak spice. Generous fruit on the palate but the oak noticeable in this sample – prise de bois? Freshness there but dry and chewy on the finish. Needs retasting. (JL) 14.2%Drink 2028– 2038

The first vintage produced in the estate's new winery, which more than doubled the number of vats, permitting sub-plot by sub-plot vinification, the brilliant 2022 Langoa Barton offers up aromas of dark berries, cassis, violets and cigar wrapper, followed by a medium to full-bodied, deep and fleshy palate endowed with terrific depth and tension. Polished and penetrating, it should match or even surpass the 2019 and 2016 vintages, and it is sure to be one of the more intelligent purchases of the en primeur campaign.

The 2022 Langoa-Barton was cropped at 30hL/ha from September 8-23 then matured in 60% new oak. The nose needs a few minutes to cohere, raspberry and dark cherry fruit, bunches of violet, almost Margaux-like in personality. The palate is where the action is at the moment with finely-chiseled tannins, a saline undertow, almost briny with a fresh and quite compelling, classically-styled finish. Fine length, this is a Langoa that just like the ABBA song, will go on and on and on. 2028-2060

Another successful vintage for Langoa, with dense cherry pit, graphite, smoked earth and bilberry fruits. Glass-staining ruby colour, a little atypical for the estate with its gourmet edge that gives supple tannins and a rich mid-palate, with concentrated fruit and spices all balanced by great tannic architecture. This is an impressive St Julien from the Barton family, with a ton of ageing potential. 60% new oak.