2006 Château Léoville Barton
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Tasting notes
From one of my favorite estates in Saint-Julien, the 2006 Château Léoville Barton is now fully mature (yet certainly youthful) and has a complex, layered profile that includes ample red and black fruits as well as perfumed notes of leafy herbs, cedar pencil, tobacco, and hints of crushed stone. Medium to full-bodied, nicely balanced, and textured, it has the more focused, straight, classic style of this château front and center, with integrated yet still present tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. A classy, layered, complex, textbook Bordeaux, it's going to continue drinking nicely for another two decades, with a gradual decline after that.
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London. The 2006 Château Léoville-Barton has a surprisingly rich and opulent bouquet at first, although it calms down with aeration, offering crushed violet and black cherry scents, reminiscent of a fine Margaux. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip in the mouth. Here the class begins to appear with fine balance and poise, but like the Langoa, it lacquers the mouth with tannins and feels very backward, surprising given the vintage. Cellar this for another decade, folks. Tasted January 2016.
Tasted blind. Dark crimson. Very dense and pungent. A Léoville? Real intensity. (JR)
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.