Deep fruit, dark spices and graphite with wide yet polished, linear tannins. Full-bodied and intense with depth and structure. Long and chalky at the end. Big wine.

Another successful vintage for Langoa, with dense cherry pit, graphite, smoked earth and bilberry fruits. Glass-staining ruby colour, a little atypical for the estate with its gourmet edge that gives supple tannins and a rich mid-palate, with concentrated fruit and spices all balanced by great tannic architecture. This is an impressive St Julien from the Barton family, with a ton of ageing potential. 60% new oak.

The first vintage produced in the estate's new winery, which more than doubled the number of vats, permitting sub-plot by sub-plot vinification, the brilliant 2022 Langoa Barton offers up aromas of dark berries, cassis, violets and cigar wrapper, followed by a medium to full-bodied, deep and fleshy palate endowed with terrific depth and tension. Polished and penetrating, it should match or even surpass the 2019 and 2016 vintages, and it is sure to be one of the more intelligent purchases of the en primeur campaign.

The Grand Vin 2022 Château Langoa Barton checks in as 56.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc that was raised in 60% new barrels. Medium-bodied and vibrant, with a fresher, elegant, yet still textured profile, it has pure black and blue fruits, some lead pencil, tobacco, and earthy nuances, fine tannins, and a great finish. This 2022 is all about finesse and elegance. Tasted twice with consistent notes.

The 2022 Langoa-Barton was cropped at 30hL/ha from September 8-23 then matured in 60% new oak. The nose needs a few minutes to cohere, raspberry and dark cherry fruit, bunches of violet, almost Margaux-like in personality. The palate is where the action is at the moment with finely-chiseled tannins, a saline undertow, almost briny with a fresh and quite compelling, classically-styled finish. Fine length, this is a Langoa that just like the ABBA song, will go on and on and on.

The 2022 Langoa Barton is vibrant and focused, as the best wines are in this vintage. Crushed raspberry, blood orange, mint, spice and rose petal are all beautifully delineated. There’s a purity to the 2022 that is impossible to miss. I admire its precision and lovely minerality. Langoa could turn out to be one of the Sleepers of 2022, especially among the more affordable wines of the Left Bank.