2019 Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Colour: Red

Vintage: 2019

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label is sorely misplaced nowadays, with the precision and freshness making it a far more sophisticated wine than its outdated reputation might suggest.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

97 RP

Like its stablemate Langoa Barton, the 2019 Léoville Barton is a timeless classic, made for patient connoisseurs. Offering up aromas of blackcurrants, plums, pencil shavings and licorice, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, its deep core of fruit framed by a chassis of rich, powdery tannin that makes itself felt on the youthfully firm finish. While it's clearly built for the long haul, its structural seamlessness and mid-palate plenitude mark it out as one of the finest wines from this château in recent times. Could it be a more concentrated modern-day version of Anthony Barton's brilliant 1985? WK

Wine Advocate

97 JD

The flagship 2019 Château Léoville Barton is brilliant, showing both the style of the estate as well as the vintage beautifully. It's never the biggest or richest wine, yet it has a classic, vibrant, structured style that ages beautifully. Pure cassis, black currants, scorched earth, new leather, and graphite are just some of its nuances, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a lively spine of acidity, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. This textbook Léoville Barton demands a decade of bottle age and will keep for 30-40 years.The flagship 2019 Château Léoville Barton is brilliant, showing both the style of the estate as well as the vintage beautifully. It's never the biggest or richest wine, yet it has a classic, vibrant, structured style that ages beautifully. Pure cassis, black currants, scorched earth, new leather, and graphite are just some of its nuances, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a lively spine of acidity, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. This textbook Léoville Barton demands a decade of bottle age and will keep for 30-40 years.

Jeb Dunnuck

96 DR

“Medium to full intensity in colour, this is glass-staining ruby and yet another hit from an estate that is making seriously great wine right now. Mint and eucalyptus are clear, tension and grip held through the palate. This has shoulders and swagger to the tannins, pure cassis hit of fruit and some lovely black chocolate and slate overtones along the way. Strays almost to Pauillac in terms of the weight of the tannins, but it's brilliant.” Jane Anson, June 2020

Decanter

96 WS

A strapping young wine, offering notes of blackberry paste, plum preserves and black currant coulis that show energy throughout, with plentiful bramble, tar and licorice root accents. There’s a mouthwatering echo of apple wood at the very end, with a flash of violet adding a hint of purity. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2025 through 2042.

Wine Spectator

96 JS

Currants, sweet fruit and fresh flowers on the nose. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, silky tannins that are chewy and powerful. Long and muscular, yet in a toned and polished way. Try after 2026.

James Suckling

96 AG

The 2019 Léoville Barton is so impressive. Rich and heady in the glass, the 2019 offers up a beguiling mix of dark fruit intermingled with scents to tobacco, gravel, pencil shavings, leather, licorice, scorched earth and cloves. Today, Léoville Barton is decidedly virile, imposing and in need of cellaring. It is also hugely impressive. Léoville Barton is one of the first Bordeaux I tasted, many years ago. It remains a favorite for its combination of quality, personality and fair price, all values the late Anthony Barton championed during his long and distinguished career.

Antonio Galloni

96 JL

Powerful, concentrated, tannic, refined and almost muscular, the wine opens with tobacco leaf, cedar chest, cigar box, lead pencil, herbs and currants in the aromatics. Full-bodied, long and intense, with a black and red currant, spice and leafy, savory finish. This is an age-worthy vintage which is going to demand time in the cellar before it fully begins to soften and offer up all of its layers of nuance and complexities. Drink from 2032-2060. Tasted March 2022

Jeff Leve

95 NM

The 2019 Léoville Barton has a gorgeous bouquet, very delineated and quite mineral-driven, offering blackberry and briary scents, a whiff of freshly rolled tobacco and a hint of orange rind. The beautifully balanced palate features sappy black fruit and fine acidity, quite gentle at first but developing wonderful poise and weight toward the finish. I adore the way this grows in the glass but retains an appealing spiciness on the aftertaste. Superb. A testament to the late, great Anthony Barton. 13.88% alcohol

Neal Martin

Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien