2016 Reserve de Leoville Barton
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Tasting notes
The 2016 La Réserve de Léoville Barton offers more red fruit on the nose, with raspberry and wild strawberry, undergrowth and light tobacco aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grip, well-judged acidity, bright and focused, with a sense of tension on the sapid finish. Excellent. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2016 La Réserve de Léoville Barton has a well-defined bouquet of crisp red fruit (strawberry and cranberry), plus touches of crushed stone tucked underneath. The medium-bodied palate offers light tannins and a fine bead of acidity. Quite elegant in style, with a precise finish. Classic Claret – no more, no less. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.
Tasted blind. Very dry and ambitious. Not very charming but there is a lot of (pretty dry) fruit packed in there. (JR)
The second wine of the estate, the 2016 La Reserve de Léoville Barton is also Cabernet-dominated yet includes 20% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc. It has notable purity as well as medium to full-bodied notes of mulled cherries and cassis intermixed with plenty of graphite and obvious minerality. It’s not one of the easygoing, simple second wines and has good concentration, plenty of acidity, and ample length. Give it 3-4 years of bottle age, and I suspect it’s capable of lasting for two decades.
About the producer
Ch. Léoville Barton is a Second Growth Saint-Julien estate, one of the three famous Léoville estates (along with Léoville Poyferré and Léoville Las Cases). Owned by the Barton family (along with Ch. Langoa Barton), it produces classically structured Claret that ages beautifully.