Léoville Barton 2019

Big rich, powerful wine with pencil lead precision. This is a brilliant wine, I loved it En Primeur and it is delivering on expectations. It's big, as is Langoa in this vintage, with damson and black cherry fruits, and tons of gourmet notes from brioche to bacon rind to chocolate shavings. The tannins are going to need a good decade to soften, but when it is ready, this is going to be such a fun wine to share with friends.

Tasted blind. Very intense crimson. Restrained nose. Relatively light but with lots buried underneath, so it does manage to be emphatic. Really builds on the finish so that pretty much all the quality is revealed in the (notably dry) finish. 14%Drink 2028– 2055

The flagship 2019 Château Léoville Barton is brilliant, showing both the style of the estate as well as the vintage beautifully. It's never the biggest or richest wine, yet it has a classic, vibrant, structured style that ages beautifully. Pure cassis, black currants, scorched earth, new leather, and graphite are just some of its nuances, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a lively spine of acidity, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. This textbook Léoville Barton demands a decade of bottle age and will keep for 30-40 years.

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot. Barrel sample.A graceful wine but with plenty of reserve. Great depth and purity of fruit. Refined cedar and cassis nose. Vibrant palate with a juicy quality to the fruit, plentiful tannins and a texture that is silky and smooth. Fresh, long and persistent. The absolute in harmony. (JL)Drink 2030 – 2050

The 2019 Léoville Barton has a gorgeous bouquet, very delineated and quite mineral-driven, offering blackberry and briary scents, a whiff of freshly rolled tobacco and a hint of orange rind. The beautifully balanced palate features sappy black fruit and fine acidity, quite gentle at first but developing wonderful poise and weight toward the finish. I adore the way this grows in the glass but retains an appealing spiciness on the aftertaste. Superb. A testament to the late, great Anthony Barton. 13.88% alcohol 2026 - 2065

The 2019 Léoville Barton is a different kettle of fish compared to its sibling Langoa. It has a complex bouquet of blackberry, sous-bois, tobacco and minerals, much more introverted yet exceedingly complex. The palate is exquisite in terms of balance, laden with intense black fruit laced with orange zest, that citrus element counterbalancing the tannic grip and structure. There is a sense of completeness to this Léoville-Barton, certainly on par with the best vintages in recent years. A formidable yet charming Saint-Julien in the making. 2026 - 2065.

A pure, focused red with blackberries and blackcurrants. Very floral, too. Medium-to full-bodied, tight and fine-tannined. Pretty clarity and balance to this. Less muscular than the 2018, but very attractive all the same.

The 2019 Leoville Barton is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it features a wonderfully fragrant nose of blackberry preserves, warm plums, and blackcurrant jelly, followed by suggestions of rose oil, cardamom, and dusty soil. The medium to full-bodied palate is fantastically opulent, with layer upon layer of perfumed fruit and wonderfully ripe, densely pixilated tannins, finishing long and minerally.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 Leoville Barton leaps with vibrant notes of warm red and black currants, black raspberries, and iris, plus hints of wild sage, tilled soil, and clove oil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers beautiful tension to the red and black berry layers with velvety tannins and a long, mineral-tinged finish. This wine has so much energy!

Sporting a deep garnet-purple color, the 2019 Léoville Barton comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of black raspberries, wild blueberries and crushed red and black currants plus hints of cedar chest, pencil lead, crushed rocks and red roses with a suggestion of Indian spices. The medium-bodied palate is chock-full of ripe, expressive black fruits and a very sophisticated, fine-grained texture, possessing plenty of freshness and finishing with impressive style and poise. While this beauty is just dripping with class, it's that flirtatious peek of perfume and fruitiness that really makes your heart pound. Love it! 2025 - 2055

Medium to full intensity in colour, this is glass-staining ruby and yet another hit from an estate that is making seriously great wine right now. Mint and eucalyptus are clear, tension and grip held through the palate. This has shoulders and swagger to the tannins, pure cassis hit of fruit and some lovely black chocolate and slate overtones along the way. Strays almost to Pauillac in terms of the weight of the tannins, but it's brilliant. Drinking Window 2029 - 2045

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot.Dark, deep purplish crimson. Briary, high-toned nose. A very long-term proposition! Massive tannins and dry Cabernet fruit. Quite painful at this early stage. 14%Drink 2033 – 2050