2020 Reserve de Leoville Barton
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Dark, pure and slightly leafy black fruit. Leafy on the palate, too, the tannins dry but finely textured. Good freshness and decent length. (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2020 La Réserve de Léoville-Barton is a touch austere on the nose, with pine-fresh red fruit and neatly integrated oak—open and expressive. The palate is fleshy on the entry with admirable fruit concentration. It's a touch more exotic than its peers on the finish, with marmalade and blood orange notes and a slightly honeyed texture, yet it manages to retain balance. This is thoroughly enjoyable. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
A wine that functions as the second wine for both Léoville Barton and Langoa Barton, the 2020 La Reserve De Léoville Barton is based on 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc. It's a medium-bodied, straight-up delicious, elegant wine offering lots of red and black fruit, some earthy, herbal, and spicy notes, soft tannins, and outstanding length. It's already drinking nicely, and I see no need to delay gratification, although it will certainly evolve for a decade.
The 2020 La Réserve de Léoville Barton has a crisp blackberry, tobacco and slight minty bouquet with impressive harmony. The palate is medium-bodied with finely-chiseled tannins, not deep or concentrated, yet showing much more precision than the La Réserves that I used to taste a decade ago. Classy.
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.