2023 Leoville Barton
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Tasting notes
This offers a very delicate and classical nose with rich dark berry fruit and pencil shavings. The tannins are so subtle, with lovely structure, yet offering a silky, velvet mouth-feel. This is a vibrant Leoville Barton, offering fresh, precise and lively palate, with hints of leather and blackberry. There is a lot of weight that really steams through at the end, this is a very elegant St Julien that will age effortlessly. Aged in 60% new oak. Blend: 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2023 Léoville-Barton is wonderfully poised and expressive. Graphite, sage, crushed rocks, incense, spice and pencil shavings resonate off a core of vibrant dark blue and black fruit. Today, the 2023 is quite backward. I would give it at least a few years in bottle, as the tannins and acids need time to integrate. Léoville-Barton is such a Saint-Julien archetype. Gorgeous.
This was one of the real standouts En Primeur for me, and I am so so happy to see it delivering now it is in bottle. Inky, juicy, finessed, reserved, exactly what I found when tasting last year, and this is delicious, muscular, old school, fragrant, Left Bank, St Julien typiciity, graphite, crayon, cassis, tension, boom. Barton family owners, 60% new oak for ageing. This is a single point upscore - very different in character from the Poyferré, both exceptional.
The 2023 Château Leoville Barton is another terrific wine from this château, and it plays in the fresh, vibrant, lively style of the vintage beautifully. Utterly classic blackcurrants, ripe tobacco, graphite, and cedar pencil notes define the aromatics, and this beauty is medium to full-bodied, has terrific concentration, the pure, focused, mineral-driven style of the vintage, building yet ripe tannins, and a great finish. It has plenty of acidity as well as tannins and is built for the cellar. The blend is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc, raised in 60% new oak. Harvest dates were the 12th of September to the 2nd of October.
About the producer
Ch. Léoville Barton is a Second Growth Saint-Julien estate, one of the three famous Léoville estates (along with Léoville Poyferré and Léoville Las Cases). Owned by the Barton family (along with Ch. Langoa Barton), it produces classically structured Claret that ages beautifully.