This is dense with a lovely blueberry and mineral character. Full body, with silky tannins and a long finish. It is dense and very pretty. Well done.

The Langoa Barton is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc cropped at 36hl/ha cropped between 12th and 23rd September. It has a very pure lifted bouquet with fine delineation. It is very feminine with hints of blueberry and cassis just in the background, but there is nice minerality coming through. The palate is rounded on the entry with crisp acidity, hints of pain grille inflecting the black fruit with a seam of graphite on the finish. Tasted April 2012.

A pure and elegant style, with plum and cassis fruit that's nicely unadorned. Hints of iron and violets filter in on the finish. Deceptive length.-J.M.

Good full ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of blackcurrant, fresh herbs and cocoa. Sweet, round and nicely vinous, with good depth to the flavors of chocolatey dark fruits and spicy underbrush. Finishes with fine-grained tannins, firm structure and lingering cocoa and floral notes. Offers plenty of early appeal and better texture than many 2011s.

[63CS/34M/3CF] Fairly concentrated elegantly proportioned wine with fresh acidity and a very fine, relatively gentle tannin for the year; freshly sweet flavour, attractive complexity, long in the mouth, nice, fresh persistence, a most successful Langoa. 2020-30+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2012]

From Anthony Barton’s lesser known estate, the 2011 Langoa Barton offers up lots of dusty, earthy, black cherry notes, moderate tannin, and a serious, masculine style. Nicely concentrated and pure, it behaves more like a Pauillac than a classic St.-Julien. Give this medium-bodied wine 2-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 10-15 years.

It is difficult to find any sweet fruit in this firmly structured, backward, austere, astringently tannic, dry 2011. The color is a healthy dense ruby/purple and the wine is earthy, but charmless at present. This will be more interesting to taste once it has been bottled.

Richer and more overtly woody than the Léoville Barton. Greater refreshment and length too – really smart and flavoursome. (RH)

Drink 2017-2028 Deep dark cherry colour. Not much on the nose. Some oak char and savour on the palate and a slight herbaceous note. Tannins are rounded but there's just not a lot of flavour even though the structure is kept in its place. Juicy finish. (JH)

Smells rich, dark and oakily spiced. Light and juicy in the middle but making the most of the vintage rather than over-extracting. (JH)