This is an impressively endowed vin de garde that should age effortlessly for 20-30 years. How Anthony Barton continues to fashion uncompromisingly primordial Bordeaux that are always among the biggest and densest of all the St.-Juliens is beyond me, but he does it year in and year out. Moreover, when it’s time to set the price, he appears to have the consumer foremost in his mind. The 2004 is a classic Leoville-Barton meant for long aging. Concentrated, with loads of smoke, creme de cassis, forest floor, and earthy notes emerge from this impressive, but oh, so backward wine. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030+.

Tasted at the French Embassy in London. At six years of age, the Leoville Barton is developing quite a refined bouquet with brambly red-berried fruits laced with cedar and a touch of sage. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded, ripe red fruits, a generous dose of cedar and firm, dry tannins that segue into a dry, aristocratic finish. Conservative, but charming. Drink now-2025. Tasted November 2010.

Currant and dark chocolate, with hints of mineral. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a long, caressing finish. Balanced. A more delicate and refined style.

With a tobacco, truffle, cedar wood, cigar box and blackberry personality, this is just starting to open. Firm, classic and traditionally styled, there is still some tannin to be resolved Give it another 5 years. Tasted Jan 2015