2009 Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Colour: Red

Vintage: 2009

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label is sorely misplaced nowadays, with the precision and freshness making it a far more sophisticated wine than its outdated reputation might suggest.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

96 JS

A super-classic St.-Julien that only has a hint of the opulence of the vintage. The beautiful cassis fruit and elegantly dry tannins push briskly through the long and graceful finish. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019) - Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com, March 2019

James Suckling

95 NM

The 2009 Léoville-Barton has a much better bouquet than the Langoa with better definition and focus: blackberry, raspberry coulis, cedar and touches of graphite that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, lightly spiced with a graphite infused finish that feels very persistent. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits' Ten Year On tasting. - vinous.com, March 2019

Neal Martin

944 WL

Quality 920 | Brand 988 | Economics 920 | buzz brand, investment staple
Quality: Predicted life of 14 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group, which averages 9 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

94 RP

94 - Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2009 Leoville Barton gives up expressive cherry cordial, warm cassis and blackberry tart scents with nuances of menthol, cigar box and fallen leaves. Medium-bodied and elegantly played with loads of freshness and soft tannins, it has a long, perfumed finish.Lisa Perrotti-Brown, March 2019

93+ - Head and shoulders above its stablemate, Langoa Barton, proprietor Anthony Barton’s 2009 Leoville Barton is another massive, excruciatingly rich, tannic, potentially long-aged wine. Meant for consumers with old fashioned tastes, it boasts a dense opaque purple color as well as a bouquet of licorice, forest floor, unsmoked cigar tobacco and a hint of earth. The wine reveals tremendous denseness and richness, a broad, savory mouthfeel and elevated tannins in the finish. However, there is a sweetness to the tannins and no trace of bitterness and astringency, always a sign of a top vintage as well as fully mature grapes. Still a monolithic baby, this 2009 should be forgotten for at least a decade, and consumed over the next 30-50 years.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #199, Feb 2012)

Wine Advocate

17.5 MS

[77CS/23M] Softly sweet blackberry nose; a generous constitution: rich core, fine firm tannins, fresh acidity; ripe and fleshy blackberry/blackcurrant fruit to taste; vibrant, gently complex, easy, abundant, satisfying wine; a gratifying classic St Julien. Sweet and juicy, long and refined too, with excellent, gently scented length. Perhaps not the absolute scope of the top 2nd Growth St Juliens, but this will make a gorgeous glass of mature claret. 2020-40

Michael Schuster

Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien