2005 Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Colour: Red

Vintage: 2005

Region: Bordeaux, Saint-Julien

Leoville Barton is a perennial favourite of the British wine drinker - hardly surprising when one gets to know the quality of this St. Julien. However the old ‘dependable workhorse’ label is sorely misplaced nowadays, with the precision and freshness making it a far more sophisticated wine than its outdated reputation might suggest. The blend is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon (70%), with Merlot (20%) and Cabernet Franc (10%) making up the rest. Whilst the wine remains traditional in style, tending to be backward in its youth and with the potential to be very long lived, it is certainly stylish and since 2014 has found a new level of elegance.

Tasting Notes and Scores

98 DR

Deep ruby red, this is great stuff, broad-shouldered, laced with aniseed, liqourice, touches of bitter black chocolate, muscular tannins and a luscious fruit core. Lip smacking stuff, with 2005 energy and excitement. Gets more serious as it opens, revealing black pepper spice, sage, rosemary and white pepper. A wonderful wine, one to sink into. You can easily wait to drink this, and it will reward another three to five years in bottle, then go for decades. If you do open it, give it a long carafe. 50% new oak. Drink 2024 - 2050
Tasted June 2022 - Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux

Decanter

957 WL

Quality 944 | Brand 988 | Economics 930 | buzz brand, investment staple
Quality: Predicted life of 26 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group for the 2005 vintage, which averages 15 years Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 33 of the world's top wine lists, including Amber - Mandarin Oriental Economics: Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 186,000 bottles

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017

Wine Lister

95 NM

The Château Léoville-Barton 2005 has a more multi-dimensional bouquet compared to the Langoa with blackberry, bilberry, a hint of “Liquorice All Sorts” and crème de cassis. The palate is medium-bodied with dense ripe tannins, a gentle but insistent grip and superb delineation on the finish that reins the power back in, ensuring that this Barton is linear, classic in style. There is great persistence here – a Saint Julien from the top drawer that will give as much pleasure to you as your kids (once they reach drinking age of course).

Tasted single blind at Southwold. Again, this is showing a lot of extraction and unresolved new oak on the nose with cassis, blackcurrant, liquorice and a touch of fig. Very ripe supple black fruits, lush and generous, exotic almost with a lithe, toasty finish. Very seductive, but they a wall of tannins hits the back palate, then honeyed tones lingering on the aftertaste. Magnificent – I would love to contrast this against the 2003. Drink 2015-2035. Tasted January 2009.

– eRobertParker.com, Feb 2015

Neal Martin

92 RP

Léoville Barton’s 2005 has an inky ruby/purple color and shows fairly high tannin levels, but the balance is slightly better that the Langoa Barton, which is very hard. This is probably a 30-year wine and needs at least another 20 years of cellaring, and while the tannins are high, they are balanced more thoroughly and competently. With deep cassis and red currant fruit, the wine is earthy, spicy, medium to full-bodied, and needs at least another decade. Drink it between 2025 and 2050.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #219, Jun 2015)

Wine Advocate

90 MS

Dark, immature red; intense, cassissy nose, an attractive early bouquet; concentrated, firm, tannic wine, a long term, fairly muscular prospect; crisply ripe in fruit, plenty of juicy flavour there, but all within a very grippy tannic frame; fine fruit and excellent fruit persistence, but still severe. Good wine, but the character of the tannin detracts from what could have been rather special. One the chewier 2005’s. 2023-40

Michael Schuster

Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien