2022 Leoville Barton

With waves of sweet, perfectly ripe, luscious blackberries, you also find cassis, black cherries, creamy tannins, cigar box, lead pencil, and spice. The wine is deep in color with intensity, layers of fruit, and a finish that takes hold of your palate, and doesn't want to let go, leaving you with fruit that builds and resonates. The wine is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11.5% Merlot and 5.5% Cabernet Franc, 14.1% ABV. The harvest took place September 8 - September 23. The yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare.

The 2022 Château Léoville Barton is another pretty, elegant wine from this talented team. A blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11.5 % Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, its ruby/purple hue is followed by a beautiful perfume of ripe red and black fruits, smoked tobacco, graphite, and violets. Playing in the medium to full-bodied end of the spectrum, it has fine tannins, a supple, elegant mouthfeel, and a great finish. It's surprisingly approachable yet I wouldn't be surprised to see this firm up over the course of its élevage.

The 2022 Leoville Barton is composed of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11.5% Merlot, and 5.5% Cabernet Franc, ageing in 60% new oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, the glass needs quite a lot of swirling to bring out evocative notes of black currant jelly, boysenberry preserves, and juicy plums, plus suggestions of pencil shavings, lilacs, crushed rocks, and cinnamon toast. The elegantly styled, medium to full-bodied palate is very tightly wound with layer upon layer of black fruits and earthy nuances, framed by super-ripe, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and minerally. It will likely require some patience, but it promises to be a knock-out. Yields this year were 30 hectoliters per hectare, which isn’t too bad considering how tiny the berries were this year.