Chateau Leoville Barton 2018

Displays distinctive aromatic complexity; an unusually powerful, full-bodied Léoville Barton with wonderfully velvety tannins and great freshness despite the unusual heat: it cannot deny its vintage, nor its inimitable style.

Cassis, crushed plum and steeped blackberry fruit are all packed into this wine, along with notes of tar, violet and roasted apple wood, plus a terrific tug of warm earth. Shows lots of energy in reserve, with a tightly knit finish pulling everything together. Cellaring required. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2026 through 2040. 11,600 cases made.

Well-polished blackcurrant, cassis and bilberry, everything pretty silky and firm. Not fully showing its generosity at this point but no question that it is going to get there soon. Clear charcoal, graphite and woodsmoke as it opens up. A ton of life ahead, and an appealing sense of mint freshness. Lives up to its en primeur promise - this is Léoville Barton at its most confident.

Sweet berries, blackberries, raspberries and violets follow through to a full body with extremely creamy, polished tannins that caress the palate. It’s really long and polished. Gorgeous finish. Drink after 2025.

82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot. 60% new oak. Barrel sample. Black core, purple rim. Sweet, intense nose of elderberry and small wild berries. Extremely wholesome, dense, firm but with lots of fruit at the core. Oak well in check and tannins finer than many, dry and layered but harmonious. Built for the long term. Dry and almost chalky on the finish. (JH)

The 2018 Léoville Barton has a classy bouquet, a little timid at first, that just requires a few swirls to unleash blackberry and blueberry fruit and hints of crushed violet and desiccated orange peel. It blossoms wonderfully in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, wonderful depth and balance, and quite citric toward the finish, delivering plenty of energy. An excellent Léoville Barton whose sheer drinkability will please many, though I would afford it 4–6 years in bottle.

With a dark, inky hue accented by purple, the bouquet bursts with ripe blackberry and currant, joined by cigar box, forest floor, herbs, cedar and cigar wrapper notes. Full-bodied, concentrated, powerful yet refined, the finish is deep, long and intense. Wait at least a decade before pulling a cork. It is going to be difficult to pick the best vintage of Leoville Barton from 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2018, but it will be fun to taste them together over the next several decades. The wine is a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18%.

Dark ruby, purple reflections, faint brightening on the rim. Multilayered bouquet with attractive noble wood notes, dark berries, a hint of liquorice and notes of fresh orange zest. Juicy, ripe cherry, discreet sweetness, silky, ripe tannins, elegant structure, salty finish and very good length. Shows great harmony, a classic. (2025-2060)

This estate has been on fire in recent vintages, and the 2018 Château Léoville Barton is up there with the best of them. Based on 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot that was brought up in 60% new French oak, this classic, flawlessly balanced, straight-up awesome Saint-Julien has loads of cassis and mulberry fruits as well as notes of freshly sharpened pencils, leafy tobacco, chocolate, and earth. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, it has building tannins and healthy acidity, yet the fruit is pure, perfectly ripe, and wonderfully integrated with all the wine's components. As is normal with this cuvée, it closes down with extended air and is going to take a solid 8-10 years of bottle age to reach the early stages of maturity. It's going to evolve for 30-40 years in cold cellars.

Deep purple with an opaque core. Heady bouquet packed with black berries, coriander, and black pepper, followed by noble cassis spice and dark chocolate truffles. On the complex palate, creamy in texture with a tight-knit tannic frame and a muscular body, offering glorious extract and an incredible suppleness. The catapult-like finish features wild cherry, light tobacco, and sloe juice. This St.-Julien will take your breath away and deserves a place in every well-stocked cellar.

Kunz barrel sample 19: (82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 14.03% vol. alcohol) Silky, dense, complex, elegant bouquet with cassis, currants, black tea, graphite, subtle liquorice, cedar. A tightly woven, elegant, multi-layered palate with a finely creamy, finely muscular structure, varied dark aromatics, velvety, powerful fruit, plenty of fine tannins, and a long, delicately opulent finish with sweet echoes.

A brilliant Léoville, continuing to impress as it has every time I have tasted it. The width and depth of the ripe tannins is matched pace for pace by an elegance to the cassis, bilberry, blackcurrant fruit. As it opens, cocoa bean, smoked earth, charcoal, graphite and woodsmoke come spiralling out of the glass, and this is just gorgeous. Easily one of the wines of the vintage not just in St Julien but across Bordeaux. 70% new oak. Technical director François Brehant, consultant Eric Boissenot.

The 2018 Leoville Barton is deep garnet-purple in color. It leaps with notes of Morello cherries, black raspberries, and juicy blackcurrants, plus hints of lilacs, cedar, and vanilla pod. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a soft texture and generous black and red fruit layers, finishing long and fragrant. Deceptively delicious now, it needs time to show its pedigree.

Excellent structure, firm, generous, with refined tannins and great potential.

This wine is a pure delight and one of the most elegant of the appellation. It showcases what makes Léoville Barton so compelling: an ever-silky texture and, above all, fruit that remains crisp and flavorful, with a gently saline finish.

A superb bouquet marked as much by intensity as by subtlety. It reveals inviting notes of black berries, spices, and licorice. On the palate, the wine confirms the promise of the bouquet. It creates an exceptional symbiosis between finesse, power, and persistence. The tannins are of rare delicacy. Almost suave, they have the substance needed to ensure longevity and to align with the acid structure. A truly great Léoville Barton with an intense, persistent finish.

The nose is elegant and precise, offering finely tuned complexity, a certain power, and a multilayered character. It reveals notes of fresh blackberry, ripe wild strawberry, and, more subtly, ripe wild black fruits, combined with a touch of violet as well as fine hints of toast and vanilla, a subtle hint of camphor, cardamom, a discreet hint of cubeb pepper, and ripe almond. The palate is fruity and offers juiciness, freshness, good definition, indulgence, a certain tension, smoothness, and good structure, with a touch of power, a very discreetly tight grain, and a lovely multilayered profile. On the palate, the wine expresses notes of juicy/fleshy blackberry, vibrant blackcurrant, and, more lightly, wild strawberry, combined with touches of lily, racy minerality, small fleshy fruits, as well as a hint of fleshy plum, cherry, mocha, toasted hazelnut, a discreet hint of sweet spices, toasted oak, and hazelnut. An imperceptible touch of fresh blond tobacco on the finish. The tannins are elegant, precise, and very finely firm. Delicacy with power!

Logo on the cork: JL (Lafitte Liège)

95–97. Barrel Sample. This wine is well integrated in fine tannins and beautiful black fruits that show great promise for aging. It has a timeless, classic character that has all the freshness of the vintage, as well as the elegant personality of the fine terroir.