2018 Château Léoville Barton

Community Tasting Notes (43) Avg Score: 94.8 points

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  3/14/2024 - Shugs_Claret wrote: 94 Points

  Generous dark fruited nose and palate that is ripe, but not overdone, and concentrated with a refreshing acidic backbone to complement the generous fine tannins that unsurprisingly have a bit of grip. Well balanced. Tasted over a week with the last day being the best. Definitely will get better with bottle age.

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  1/7/2024 - 831900_ Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Dark dark plum, some vanilla, chocolate, violet. Rich and full bodied with a velvety but not over the top mouthfeel. A lovely tension. Extremely approachable right now. I might be an outlier here but it seems to lack some individuality, beyond feeling and seeming ridiculously good, at the moment.

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  12/22/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 97 Points

  The 2018 Léoville Barton is an amazing young wine, somehow harnessing the warmth of the 2018 vintage yet avoiding the excesses which can be associated with it. The nose is expectedly demure given its age, yet the crescendo the palate brings is extraordinary - packed with ripe yet poised blackberry, cassis, pencil, oyster sauce, and potpourri, lingering indefinitely. This is a baritone of a Léoville Barton, yet for all of its depth and enveloping tannin, there's a fine acidic spine bringing it all together. Impressive.
  82% CS, 18% M, brought in between September 21-24 for the Merlot and September 29-October 6 for the Cabernet Sauvignon, reaching an (imperceptible) ABV of 14%. Elevage in 60% new oak. 96-97

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  9/28/2023 - motuski Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Pnp from a 375 ml half bottle. Clearly an example of Bordeaux producers that are making wine to drink upon release. This is a polished medium to full bodied St Julien with notes of pencil shavings, leather, cassis and dark fruit. Retronasal olfaction reveals the vanilla from the oak. Tannis are fine grained and the finish is superb. This will obviously cellar well, but why wait?

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  6/14/2023 - nebbiolofan Likes this wine:

  Initially a bit reserved on the nose with dark berries. First taste was quite astringent with high acidity and mouth-filling tannin. Decanted for 3 hours which was not enough. This really opened up around the 4-5 hour mark, showing aromas of black currant, blackberry, blueberry, and a cooling menthol note on the nose. By now the tannins had receded some and the acidity moved back to the mid-palate. On the palate, it expresses similar flavors to the nose, with some noticeable minerality on the finish, which is fairly long. Polished mouthfeel but not heavy. Walks the line between power and elegance. This is a very balanced wine, and does not have the overly ripe or alcoholic character found in many 2018s. At this young stage I am not getting much leather/tobacco/earth.
  This is a great classic-styled Bordeaux from a ripe and often inconsistent vintage. Revisit in 10 years.

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