Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien, 2016
If Langoa is a nod to the future with its plush velvety style, the Leoville Barton honours the past. This is a Barton from yesteryear, which just might resemble a wine from Anthony's youth. There are cool menthol notes, dark hedgerow fruit, intense blackcurrants and minerals. This is strict and authentic with muscular tannins coated with black cherry and savoury meaty notes. This is a leviathan of a wine! A true Leoville Barton. 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot.
critic reviews
The 2016 Leoville Barton is deep garnet-colored. It charges out of the gate with powerful notes of blackcurrant pastilles, stewed plums, and blueberry compote, followed by wafts of lilacs, dark chocolate, and licorice. Medium-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house with a solid wall of firm, grainy tannins and lovely tension supporting the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing long with fantastic purity of fruit.
A brilliant young wine, the 2016 Leoville Barton unwinds in the glass with aromas of cassis, dark berries and cigar box mingled with subtle hints of loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's seamless and exquisitely balanced, with beautifully refined tannins, bright acids and a long, penetrating finish. Its structural refinement is such that it's far from forbidding to open right now, yet patience will be richly rewarded.
The 2016 Léoville-Barton has a more savory bouquet than its peers: again, slightly tertiary in style, though very well delineated and manifesting lovely incense and pressed violet aromas with aeration. The oak is neatly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fleshy and ripe, and gently grippy, leading to a detailed and quite plush (for the vintage) finish. This is a charming Saint-Julien, a bit of a <em>femme fatale</em>. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.