Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien, 2018

Name: Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien
Brand: Château Léoville Barton
Price: 382.33 GBP

Available Vintages

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justerini & brooks tasting note

This is a big ambitious Leoville Barton - a real vin de garde. We love the style and the classicism - this might have been what the 1986 looked like at a similar stage, although the tannic profile is probably a lot more sophisticated. The sheer power and energy here is mighty impressive. The bouquet is all classy fruit and fine minerals, sexy griotte notes and lavish purple fruits. It doesn't really prepare you for the hugely concentrated palate of classic Cabernet fruit that follows. This is taut, linear, muscular stuff - there's no excess, this is sinewy and powerful. It really is a profound Leoville rippling with elemental Cabernet and classy minerals. Although the tannic profile is monumental, it is detail and refined. This is a powerhouse, classic Barton that will require plenty of patience, but will be so rewarding. Magnificent. 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot.

critic reviews

95/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

The 2018 Leoville Barton is deep garnet-purple in color. It leaps with notes of Morello cherries, black raspberries, and juicy blackcurrants, plus hints of lilacs, cedar, and vanilla pod. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a soft texture and generous black and red fruit layers, finishing long and fragrant. Deceptively delicious now, it needs time to show its pedigree.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2050

date of review 02/2023

97/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

A brilliant Léoville, continuing to impress as it has every time I have tasted it. The width and depth of the ripe tannins is matched pace for pace by an elegance to the cassis, bilberry, blackcurrant fruit. As it opens, cocoa bean, smoked earth, charcoal, graphite and woodsmoke come spiralling out of the glass, and this is just gorgeous. Easily one of the wines of the vintage not just in St Julien but across Bordeaux. 70% new oak. Technical director François Brehant, consultant Eric Boissenot.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2046

date of review 03/2022

94/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2018 Léoville Barton has a classy bouquet, a little timid at first, that just requires a few swirls to unleash blackberry and blueberry fruit and hints of crushed violet and desiccated orange peel. It blossoms wonderfully in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, wonderful depth and balance, and quite citric toward the finish, delivering plenty of energy. An excellent Léoville Barton whose sheer drinkability will please many, though I would afford it 4–6 years in bottle.

DRINKING WINDOW 2024 - 2045

date of review 03/2021