Coravin fun - Leoville Barton trial run
Kennards, Waterloo
Tasted Saturday, November 12, 2016 by chatters with 319 views
Introduction
Charlie very kindly gave me a lift with some stuff that needed to go into storage so I dragged him to Kennards to try some Leoville Barton's to, ostensibly, make sure that none of them were out of condition. All wines were tapped by Coravin and tried after about 5-15 minutes. After we had done the LB's I pulled out a couple of other Bordeaux's that were close to hand in the storage and we Coravined them as well.
Flight 1 - Leoville Barton (6 Notes)
In an ideal world I would have rocked up to my storage 60 minutes before hand with 12 glasses and popped all of the wines before hand. There were two distinct groups here - 94, 95 & 04 vs 98, 02 & 08. the latter group were instantly approachable, the former felt like they would need time to blossom and open up. The 94 I had doubts about.
Flight 2 - Within reach Bordeaux (2 Notes)
Went with the younger, lower quality, merlot dominated wine first. The Meyney was far nicer today.
Closing
the 98 LB was probably the wine of the day though I did enjoy the 02 as well.
I do have an 89 La Reserve de Leoville Barton but when I tried to Coravin it I found that the cork was damp through and was moving around a bit. I think I'll have to get that one out for Christmas this year.
1994 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From Coravin. Little cherry fruit, wet earth, leather and very slight vanilla...Charlie says a touch of green apple on the palate and I agree, still tannic as - plenty of structure here - and slight cherry fruits. tannins to out last fruit I suspect, alas.
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1995 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From Coravin. Medium minus intensity nose, soft and creamy. Even with agitation not giving much on the nose...with time more leathery and sweet cherry. In the mouth it's juicy with muted cherry and chalky tannins. Finishes with some white pepper notes.
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1998 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From Coravin. Dirty earth, barnyard, autumn leaves are all underpinned by muted brambles and blackcurrant. More of the same on the palate, a little linear perhaps, but rather pleasant. The tannins are present but do not dominate...a more complete wine than the 94 & 95 at this juncture. Lovely.
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2002 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From Coravin. Damp saddle leather over unsweetened blackberry and blackcurrant compote. Touches of cream and a bit of wet stone. On the palate the fruit has that same unsweetened compote note with hints of vanilla to join the cream and firm, drying, but integrated, tannins. Yum.
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2004 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From Coravin. Wet clay, spice, bit dusty and meaty, slight leather and brambly fruit and farmyard. In the mouth it's almost beef extract, tight tannins...hmm, in fact this wine is just quite tight, touches of 85% plain chocolate as well as muted black fruits. There is breadth but it is dry and it does need a bit more time for me.
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2008 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
From Coravin. Bramble, blackcurrant, vanilla, sweet spice, biscuit, slightly meaty elements and touches of pyrazine. Juicy, fleshy, with savoury fruit and that pyrazine note again. Tannins are abundant but integrated. Balanced. Moreish but quite young.
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