Léoville Barton 2012

As with most of these St Juliens, the colour is medium intensity ruby with lovely reflective pools. Sweet notes of smoked caramel, graphite and campfire stealing in along blackberry and cassis fruits. Overall the fruit register is dark, with tannins that are perfectly integrated but still present, confident and holding the fruit in place. The same sappy saline minerality that I found in the Gruaud Larose, not generous but enticing. 60% new oak, 32hm/h yield.

The 2012 Leoville Barton has a medium to deep garnet-brick color. It wafts effortlessly out of the glass with evocative scents of boysenberries, juicy black plums, and crème de cassis, followed by earthy/minerally suggestions of iron ore, pencil lead, and charcoal. The medium-bodied palate offers a firm, grainy texture and bright acidity to counter the taut black fruit and earthy nuances, finishing long and energetic.

Dense ruby/purple, with cassis licorice and forest floors notes in the aromatics, Léoville-Barton’s 2012 is a relatively big, rich, masculine style of wine. This full-bodied wine needs 5-8 years of cellaring and should evolve easily for 25-30 years. Drink: 2023 - 2053

The Grand Vin is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc picked between 3 and 15 October at 32hl/ha. It is more introspective than the Langoa at this early stage, but perhaps more complex with subtle tertiary and pencil lead scents infusing the black fruit profile. The palate is superbly balanced with fine tannins, delineated black and red fruit infused with graphite borrowed north from Pauillac. It exudes focus and precision and should be one of the finest Saint Julien 2012s. Tasted April 2013.