chateau leoville barton 2eme cru classe st julien

Château Léoville Barton

Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien, 2003

Name: Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien
Brand: Château Léoville Barton
Price: 1337.47 GBP

94/100

Inside Bordeaux

93/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 1989 1998 2002 2003 2004 2010 2014 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

delivery

in bond

Broking

2003
12x75cl
DP
£1,337.47

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

We are concerned that the 2004 Barton may exhibit a vague goût de camionette, as we found one upside-down on it’s roof among the vines on our previous visit in January this year, after trying to escape from the Pauillac gendarmes. Luckily, we had no concerns whatever for the 2003. We had heard ahead of our tasting that the 2003 Léoville-Barton was head and shoulders above the local competition, and were glad to find this to be true. Never flashy, never over-made, always honest and seriously good, Barton is occasionally a stunner – as it is this time round. Very good concentration on the nose, with slightly less of the usually strong dark-fruit character (Barton sometimes shows hints of tar and rubber from barrel), the fruit on the palate is tightly packed, a mix of blackberry, loganberry and cassis, with excellent clarity and a hint of bitter chocolate. It has a beautifully seductive, soft exterior. The overall impression is one of polish, balance and great length. Similarly, a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 10 Cabernet Franc, cropped at 40hl/ha.

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

More proof that if you want a great 2003 right now, you should head to St Julien or Pauillac, where the exoticism of the vintage is held in check by savoury Cabernet notes and plenty of tannic grip. You'll find traces of black truffle, charcoal and crème de cassis exuberance, along with soft blackberry and damson fruits, incense, liqourice root and plenty of cigar box smoky notes. Hard to resist, in its drinking window but no rush to drink. In the Barton family since 1826. 70% new oak.

drinking window 2023 - 2038

date of review 06/2023

93/100

Stephen Tanzer,

Vinous

Good medium ruby. Explosive nose of black raspberry, coffee and leather. Hugely rich, dense and sweet, with deep flavors of currant, plum and chocolate complicated by underlying minerality. Wonderfully dense and full on the back end, with broad tannins and palate-staining length. Today, the 2005 comes off as dry by comparison. A standout of the vintage, and likely to be long-lived in the context of the year.

date of review 05/2006

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

St Julien

Producer:

Château Léoville Barton

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Cab Sauvignon Merlot

abv:

12.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.