Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien, 2019

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

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

98/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

The 2019 Leoville Barton is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a fait bit of swirling to coax out wonderfully pure notes of blackcurrant jelly, wild blueberries, and boysenberries, followed by hints of tar, lavender, crushed rocks, and fragrant soil. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in elegance, with very fine-grained, silt-like tannins and beautiful tension framing the highly nuanced black fruits, finishing very long and fantastically layered.

DRINKING WINDOW 2025 - 2052

date of review 12/2023

97/100Neal Martin,Vinous

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.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2058

date of review 02/2023

97/100William Kelley,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Like its stablemate Langoa Barton, the 2019 Leoville Barton is a timeless classic, made for patient connoisseurs. Offering up aromas of blackcurrants, plums, pencil shavings and licorice, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, its deep core of fruit framed by a chassis of rich, powdery tannin that makes itself felt on the youthfully firm finish. While it's clearly built for the long haul, its structural seamlessness and mid-palate plenitude mark it out as one of the finest wines from this chateau in recent times. Could it be a more concentrated modern-day version of Anthony Barton's brilliant 1985?

DRINKING WINDOW 2029 - 2069

date of review 04/2022

97/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

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.

DRINKING WINDOW 2029 - 2048

date of review 01/2022