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

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.

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!

The 2019 Léoville Barton has a powerful and comparatively rich bouquet with layers of black fruit suffused with minerals - wonderful delineation. This has an effortlessness about it. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, gorgeous satin-like texture, mineral-driven with hints of truffle and white pepper towards the exceedingly harmonious finish. I thought this was outstanding before - now I think it might be a benchmark. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.