2010 Château Léoville Barton
Community Tasting Note
Collector1855 wrote:
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - Bordeaux 2009 vs. 2010 - Check in on 50 well known Chateaux: I make it a habit to taste the freshly bottled Bordeaux when they arrive before I lay them down in my storage facilities. Having read lots of praise about this wine I was still sceptical. Leoville Bartons are very classical wines and rarely do well before they have many years under their belt, and unfortunately, even then they remain on the tannic side, especially for people who only occasionally drink Bordeaux... This is the second vintage of the new maitre de chais Francois Brehant. I don't want to offend anyone of the past but it confirmed what I always thought. While Leoville Barton was a great wine it significantly underperformed in respect of the terroir's potential. Tasting the 2010 it looks like this is a thing of the past. This wine is fresh, fruity with lively black currant and other appealing aromas, no joke, you can actually drink it right now so soft are the tannins although it will probably close down. I have never had a Leo Barton tasting this good when it was young. Wow! I am really looking forward how this wine will do when mature. A no brainer on your Bdx shopping list! 96+
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Comment posted by Romol:
2/7/2018 2:04:00 AM - Hi COLLECTOR1885, thanks for your helpful tasting note. What drinking window would you recommend for this vintage? Might it be earlier ready than other vintages of this producer?
Comment posted by Collector1855:
2/7/2018 2:22:00 AM - Always a good question. My best guess would be 15-25 years is the prime window for a grand Cru St.Julien like Leoville Barton. The wine was lush and soft despite the amount of tannins when it was bottled but unfortunately this can be deceptive as Bdx often closes after 2-3 years in bottle and becomes numb, inexpressive, dull to taste. So if you are curious to try, just be aware of that risk.
Lesser, softer vintages like 97, 99, 03, 07 are aging faster, so 10 years for these.
Good vintages of the structured type like 1961, 1986, , 1996, 2000, 2005, 2010 for Grand Cru Bordeaux in general should not be opened before bottle age 15, i.e. 2025 for a Bdx 2010. V
Good vintages of the sunny type like 1982, 1990, 2009, 2015 are often approachable even while young. So a Grand Cru 2009 I would definitely try with 10years of bottle age the first time, i.e., next year.
One final thing I recommend if you have the chance is to attend so called Bordeaux arrival tastings by merchants. It gives you a good feel for the vintage style.
Hope this helps, enjoy and Cheers.
Comment posted by Romol:
2/7/2018 3:36:00 AM - Thanks for your detailed answer! I hoped the 2010 vintage would be earlier ready than usual.