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| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.9 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 576 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by bpaq on 4/20/2024 & rated 95 points: Amazing bottle. Part of a 3 bottle vertical of Leoville Barton.
Excellent on the nose right off, even better after after an hour open to air. Some sediment, but that is to be expected due to age.
Bold and acidic, with notes of leather, oak, and dark fruits. Nice, lighter color to it. An amazing drink, and excellent to compare with the other two vintages. (437 views) | | | Tasted by dream on 4/4/2024 & rated 94 points: A superb bottle of this that is drinking well now but with plenty left in the tank. Really ultra-smooth even for the normally rustic Barton style with deep blackberry fruit and gorgeous, supple tannins. Double-decanted 4 hours. (845 views) | | | Tasted by kendrickbaker on 4/3/2024 & rated 91 points: 34 years later … still a pretty purple in the glass with brown edges and a viscous sediment-filled body … nose of plum and sandalwood … Acidity and fruit have held up well. There’s a slight tannic bitterness at the finish; so it’s a little out of balance to my palette but then again my most recent Bordeaux experienced was a 2018 Ducru — tough act to follow! (753 views) | | | Tasted by Moonie on 2/19/2024 & rated 96 points: Three years plus since the last bottle. This wine took a long time to come around but boy is it singing now. It had great structure, fine tannins and, very curiously, the fruit had a touch of sweetness to it. In some ways, it reminded me of a fine Burgundy. Yet, all the other old Bordeaux characteristics were there as well. Consumed at the Capital Grille in Naples with a long term friend and member of the Commanderie de Bordeaux. He was wowed as well. It would have been interesting to put this wine against a 1990 Leoville las Cases and 1990 Leoville Poyferre. (1749 views) | | | Tasted by Tim Heaton on 2/2/2024: Decanted for sediment, iirc, and enjoyed over the following few hours; served double-blind. "more like a Pauillac than a St Julien", I certainly agree with that observation. This needed an hour or so of air before it was flashing its nobility and pedigree - and rightfully so - with well-earned gravitas. Love the sense of soil, earth, and to a fair degree, moment in time. The tannins were such a fine complement on this one in particular, not something I find myself saying that often at this address. It's ready, so feel free to go for it. 12,5% abv. highly recommended (1974 views) | | | Tasted by mxpbuy on 1/20/2024 & rated 93 points: PnP, but showed best after an hour. Silky smooth, ripe black, blue, and, a still-surprising amount of, red fruits. Nice touches of pencil shavings with a touch of tobacco leaf. 20 second finish. Still at peak and will likely hold for 2+ more years. Half teaspoon of sediment. (1752 views) | | | Tasted by Carson.McEvoy on 1/19/2024 & rated 94 points: The third Léoville of the night started quietly and flat for the first 40 minutes. However, after some time in the decanter, it burst forth with beautiful aromas of cedar, leather, sweet red fruits, blackberry, and pencil shavings. Bright acidity, excellent length, and well-integrated tannins made this wine stand out and truly remarkable. After over two hours in the decanter, it became the WOTN for me, concluding the mini-vertical on a high note! (1604 views) | | | Tasted by AlanM68 on 12/27/2023 & rated 92 points: Second bottle from a case, well stored. 1st bottle was corked. This one shone brilliantly. An hour decanted and then poured and drunk with fillet steak. In great shape now and I really hope the remainder of the case show this well …. But I know the odds aren’t necessarily with me. (1769 views) | | | Tasted by Boda on 11/29/2023 & rated 94 points: I brought a bottle to a Bordeaux BYOB. The wine showed beautifully from the get go. No decanting, I opened and poured. Good fruit, great balance, would have guessed it was a 2005 as it had plenty of life.
All guests agreed it showed superbly and better than many higher rated wine. (1840 views) | | | Tasted by ElAzul on 11/12/2023 & rated 88 points: I stood this bottle up for a month to let the sediment settle. Fill was good above the neck and cork came out.nicely with ahso double prong puller. The wine has the same reticence as the previous one I opened and it took decanting, splashing back and forth for the tannin and acid to recede. Even after two days after opening this wine was unwilling to open up. But then it did and finally the dark berry fruit emerged. But it was not worth the wait of 30 plus years. (1894 views) | | | Tasted by mxpbuy on 11/11/2023 & rated 93 points: Fill into neck. Slow Ox for 3.5 hours. Still needed more time. Got better over 90 minutes during dinner. Ripe but not overripe blackberries, black cherries, touches of slightly underripe blueberries and raspberries. Some flinty soil, tobacco leaf and Oak. Very smooth. Will save last bottle for at least few years hence as there is no rush on this wine. 1/2 teaspoon of fine sediment. (1747 views) | | | Tasted by palfr2 on 10/18/2023: This is the best bottle yet of my auction purchase lot. Nose is great upon opening, cool cassis streak jumping out. Palate is muddied, some funk and a wet cardboard smell that urges one to wait. Off to the decanter and one hour on nose is clean and colour has darkened. Gone are the ferrous notes I experienced on previous bottles. It is a perfectly midsized package throughout, the nose, the palate, the 12.5% ABV. Feels like one could gulp down liters of this effortlessly (not advised). It opened up as cool and got sweeter with air. Yet never as sweet or intense as would get one to think '90 vintage immediately. Therefore not a benchmark '90 and one would be hard pressed to pick the year blind. Might as well be a good classified growth in a cooler year like '88 or '96. This should be drunk now. (2035 views) | | | Tasted by galewskj on 10/16/2023 & rated 93 points: Left bank bordeaux 2008 and older (BLVD): Earth, leather, bramble, a bit rustic with anise and beef blood. This seemed more full and fruity than the 1995 Lagrange and also a bit less complex. (2070 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 10/15/2023 & rated 94 points: Monthly Tasting Group: Bordeaux 2008 and Older (BLVD Kitchen & Bar, Wayzata, MN): Dark red color, 5mm transiiton. Drank a glass over an hour plus. One hour double decant. Tobacco, cassis, tart raspberry, pencil, dried wood, soft tannins, resolved. Lovely. (1715 views) | | | Tasted by chablis28 on 10/15/2023 & rated 96 points: Wine Group Left Bank ( '08 & back) diner. Jason's btl and my WOTH. This is drinking great and so placid. Shows some tertiary notes on palate and nose but incredibly fresh too. It would be fun to own 3 of these and drink them 5 or 10yrs apart. Beautiful BDX! (1645 views) | | | Tasted by djhammond on 10/8/2023 & rated 95 points: Tasting details are the the same as April. However, to reiterate, this is absolutely rocking and is the best pre millennial Barton by far, and good value for money. (1639 views) | | | Tasted by hargy on 10/6/2023 & rated 91 points: lovely, but quite a gentle wine now - I would inclined to drink any remaining bottles soon (1383 views) | | | Tasted by blanquito on 9/14/2023: What a cool, classy, understated 1990, more like a Pauillac than a St Julien. This wine whispers it charms sotto voce with a quiet, serious bouquet of graphite, cedar, walnuts and minerals. With air, scents of tar and truffles emerge. I double decanted this about an hour before dinner and it could probably have used more air, as it deepened and opened over the 3 hours of dinner, showing strict but not austere. The palate is cool-fruited, buttoned-down, mineral-infused, with fine density and layering. There are some tannins still but they are mostly resolved at this stage, leaving a wine as silky as this chateau seems to get. I doubt this will ever show any flashier than it did last night, so enjoy now, ideally by itself with food over a long, relaxed meal and let it weave is charms. 93 pts by the end, after starting off at 91-92. (1718 views) | | | Tasted by Oliverl1 on 9/2/2023 & rated 90 points: Decanted 3 hours. Nose a little muted and a little stewed fruit showing that it was past its prime, but not by a long way. On the palate, classic, fully mature left bank stuff with some tannins still intact. I think this bottle was about 5 years past its peak but still enjoyable.
I expected a little more from this, but most likely storage conditions were not ideal. DRINK UP! (1797 views) | | | Tasted by ankitmehra on 8/3/2023 & rated 94 points: The last bottle on a night where we tasted three decades of Saint-Julien wine (78 Gruaud Larose, 86 Ducru Beaucaillou), this 1990 Leoville Barton was a great example of the excellent vintage. The third aromatic nose of the evening, we were immediately greeted with a hefty amount of crème de cassis as well as hints of smoke and tobacco. The palette felt younger than it was as blackcurrants medlied with plums, pepper, cassis, spices and light earthiness before licorice came in on the finish. The ullage on this bottle was unbelievably good and the consensus was that 1990 Leoville Bartons have a lot of life left in them at their peak. (1892 views) | | | Tasted by SpenceP on 6/27/2023 & rated 95 points: What a glorious wine! Graceful and beautiful from the moment the bottle was opened. Sweet blueberries, tobacco, cedar, forest, cherries, leather, followed by a magnificently vivid and long aftertaste, ending on a note of ripe blue plums and maybe a whisper of red apples. Not even a hint of flamboyance--a quietly self-confident wine. This is really something special, and should remain so for at least another decade. [I gave this bottle more than a week standing upright for sediment to settle out. Tasted over an hour and a half from the Jancis Robinson glass.] (2405 views) | | | Tasted by The Wine Monkeys on 6/10/2023 & rated 93 points: Typical notes of earth and some funk, mellowing out into tar,earth, dried prune, mushroom and some Smokey notes. Palate matches the nose, very round and full, integrated tannis, acidity, no rough edges. Wondeful wine. (2236 views) | | | Tasted by djhammond on 4/27/2023 & rated 95 points: Fully mature, this is in its drinking plateau, and is a very enjoyable mature Bordeaux. It is probably the best pre millennial Barton, but it doesn't hit the heights of the Las Cases and Poyferre from 1990. The nose is a little muted but is aromatic with dark berry fruit and notes of cedar and bell pepper. The last year has seen the tannin lose its last rough edges, and the wine has a smooth mouthfeel and integrated finish, but still with sufficient bite. This is now wearing its age well and is still relatively good value. (3112 views) | | | Tasted by Rani on 3/26/2023 & rated 93 points: Tasted blind. Lovely balance here of power and elegance. Black currant and very fine tannins, delicious. (2893 views) | | | Tasted by Andyrodriguez87 on 3/26/2023 & rated 91 points: I suspect transport or storage issues marred the underlying wine here. Second bottle from a lot of leoville Barton (the other was a ‘95) that showed a somewhat stewed fruit / old over-ripe top signature that I never find in Barton. Got better with air but it never shed that signature. The underlying wine was incredibly fresh and vibrant with TONS of gas left in the tank. Cork in good shape. Didn’t get any of the cedar, tabaco and/or other aromatics I was expecting. Incredibly creamy and polished - a good bottle of this must be REALLY good. 91 for the wine underneath that annoying top-note - although this was much less tainted than the ‘95 (2600 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (8/9/2022)
(Ch Léoville Barton St-Julien Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jane Anson
Decanter, Anson’s pick: Bordeaux 1989 vs 1990 – Left Bank (10/25/2018)
(Château Léoville Barton, St-Julien, Bordeaux, France, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (8/7/2018)
(Ch Léoville Barton St-Julien Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (6/30/2011)
(Ch Léoville Barton St-Julien Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (1/23/2008)
(Ch Léoville Barton St-Julien Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (3/10/2005)
(Ch Léoville Barton St-Julien Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Chris Kissack
Winedoctor, April 2001
(Chateau Léoville-Barton St Julien) Subscribe to see review text. | By Chris Kissack
Winedoctor, April 2001
(Château Léoville-Barton St Julien Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, The 1990 Clarets...To Have and To Hold (Nov 1993) (11/1/1993)
(Léoville Barton Léoville-barton) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (12/2/2012)
(Château Léoville Barton) Slightly bricking very dark red violet color; stewed plum, tart black fruit nose; a little stewy, tart currant, tart plum, tobacco palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish 92+ points (possibly a little heat damage on this bottle) 92 points | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (1/17/2010)
(Château Léoville Barton) Slightly bricking, very dark red violet color; deep, redolent, tobacco, tart black fruit, baked plum nose with a hint of smoke; tasty, mature, tart plum, berry, prune, tobacco, pencil lead palate; medium-plus finish 94 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and Decanter and Winedoctor and Vinous and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Château Léoville Barton Producer website - Read more about Chateau Leoville BartonRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.France Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings
2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.comBordeaux Bordeaux Wine Guide
Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux)
History of Bordeaux
History of 1855 Bordeaux Classification
"2009 is all about ripeness, with wines impressively packed with ripe fruit and high alcohol levels. They are showy, in-your-face, and full of pleasure. The 2010s have the fruit and alcohol levels of the 2009s, but with a compelling freshness on the finish that balances the fruit and provides a perfect sense of structure." - Ben Nelson
"2016 is a landmark vintage in certain spots of Bordeaux and it should be remembered as one of the most inspired campaigns of the last 40-50+ years." -Jon Rimmerman
"The quality of red Bordeaux in 2016 was universally lauded – although the response to the en primeur campaign was muted. Quantity was high too, with the equivalent of 770 million bottles of wine produced. An exceptionally dry summer with cool nights eventually, thanks to mid September rain, resulted in small, thick-skinned, ripe grapes, and the wines are marked by high tannin and acidity, with superb aromatic fragrance." - Jancis Robinson
"2017 was complicated, but there are some excellent wines. Expect plenty of freshness and drinkability from wines that will offer excellent value, and others that will rival 2016 in terms of ripeness and ageability. But they are likely to be the exception not the rule, making careful selection key." - Jane Anson
"In the past, a vintage such as 2022 may have been overripe, raisined and low in acidity but 2022 had a sneaky little reservoir in its back pocket - a near perfect marriage of cool/cold/rain the previous winter and the previous vintage that literally soaked the soils (a key to why 2022 is not 2003...or 1893)." - Jon RimmermanMédoc Vins du Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc) - Read More about the Medoc
VdB
The eight precisely defined appellations of the whole of the Médoc (from Blanquefort Brook to the north of the Bordeaux built-up area, almost to the Pointe de Grave) may claim the Médoc appellation. But there is also a specific territory in the north of the peninsula which produces exclusively wines with this appellation. In the great majority, the Médocs come from the north of the peninsula. The great individuality of this region is that the number of vines has increased more recently here than elsewhere, apart from a few isolated spots where vines have grown for many years. Today, the size of the small estate has brought about the development of a powerful co-operative movement. Four co-operatives out of five belong to the group called Unimédoc which ensures aging, bottling and marketing a large proportion of their wines.St. Julien VdB
Read more detailed information on St. Julien and its wines The seventeenth century pioneers Traces are to be found of a Saint-Julien de Rintrac, perhaps Saint-Julien's earliest name, as from the thirteenth century. But we have to wait until the seventeenth century pioneers, urban and rural aristocrats, discover the exceptional merits of these terroirs.
Traces of this system still exist today in the structure of estates within the appellation: by the side of the two villages of Beychevelle and Saint-Julien, the large estates are heavily preponderant, representing more than four fifths of the total surface of vineyards.
The terrain is practically identical over all the commune. Only the proximity of the estuary, sometimes close, sometimes further away, can cause slight variations in climate. In fact, Saint-Julien-Beychevelle's layer of gravel takes the form of a huge rectangle over 3 miles long and 2 miles wide. And the alluvial deposits are particularly well fragmented into ridges of Garonne gravel of the early Quaternary. Accordingly, the vines are safeguarded from stagnant water.
The wines from the Saint-Julien appellation may be recognized by their unparalleled bouquet, particularly harmonious and mild. They have a fine deep colour and combine the finesse of their aromas and a solid constitution. They have body, are very rich in flavour and have a delicious and delicate bouquet.
Production conditions (Decree dated November 14, 1936)
In order to have the right to the Saint-Julien appellation of controlled origin, red wines must:
- come from the commune of Saint-Julien and from precisely defined parcels in the communes of Cussac, and Saint-Laurent, "excluding the parcels situated on recent alluvium and sand on impermeable subsoils",
- satisfy precise production conditions: grape-varieties (Cabernet-Sauvignon, Cabernet-Franc, Carmenère, Merlot Noir, Petit Verdot, Cot or Malbec), minimum of sugar (178 grammes - 6.27 oz. - per litre of must) degree (an acquired 10°5) base yield (45 hectolitres per hectare). |
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