Chateau Leoville Barton Cru Classe Saint-Julien

Chateau Leoville Barton is the smallest portion of the great Leoville estate and has been owned by the Barton family since 1826. There is no Chateau and the wine is made at Langoa Barton.

Since Anthony Barton took over the reins from his Uncle Ronald in the mid 80s, quality has soared at Leoville Barton and the wine has gone from being a solid mid-league performing 2nd Cru Classe to one of the most exciting and scintillating wines in St. Julien.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc

The vineyard nestles in the heart of the St Julien terroir among the most beautiful slopes of Garonne gravel, facing the Gironde river. The clayey gravel subsoil allows excellent growing conditions whatever weather the vintage brings. The plowing is traditional, without weeding or herbicide. The grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon (74%), Merlot (23%) and Cabernet Franc (3%).

This vintage is: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22.5% Merlot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc.

The harvesting is done entirely by hand. After the de-stemming, the berries are carefully sorted, crushed and poured in wooden vats thermo-regulated, according to their plots. The alcoholic fermentation lasts from 7 to 10 days and the extraction is always respectful of the juice by adjusting the number of pumping depending on the cuvées and the vintages. The maceration is about 3 weeks then the juice is drawn in barrels, lot by lot. The wine is then aged between 16 and 18 months in French oak barrels of which 60% are brand new, in a cellar maintained at 15 °.
The wines are topped up 3 times a week to avoid any contact between the wine and the air, the racking is traditional using the so-called " l'esquive" method.

The opulence of this wine proves it is the fruit of a sun-blessed vintage, yet with none of the excesses associated with this. The power is certainly present but not domineering thanks to the lively freshness and complexity.

This is incredibly classy, with very concentrated, rich, restrained black fruits, and hints of cedar, minerals and cigar box. It is all in absolutely perfect balance with a wonderful freshness and sublime elegance amid lashings of fruit and very fine tannins.

Nolan - Text from the Spotlight On French Red Wines & Their Global Influences blog

Bordeaux has to be the place to start looking into French Cabernet Sauvignon, after all, the vineyards of Bordeaux are its stomping ground. Here we find ourselves in the Medoc, this stretch of land on the left bank of the Gironde estuary is the home of the most famous names in not just Bordeaux or even France, but in the whole wine world. On this single strip of land you have Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and many, many more. Despite all these famous names, the Medoc is actually a very young area for quality viticulture compared to the rest of France.

Before the 17th century this was all marshland. It was the Dutch who drained the swamp allowing viticulture to get started here. This is a similar time to when the first vines were being planted in South Africa! What was revealed through the draining of the marshes, was great banks of gravel. It is on these that the best sites are planted. The influence of the gravel is all important, it is free draining, very important for vineyards at such low altitude and so close to the water, the gravel also provides a warm soil for the vines, soaking up the suns rays and radiating the heat back into the vineyards.

Amongst the many distinguished appellations and communes of the Medoc, it is Saint-Julien that produces perhaps the most “Bordeaux-y” wine of all. It is here that the balance is the best, the wines have substance but also delicacy, opulence with austerity. The wines are brash in their youth, demanding cellaring to reach their peak. At their peak, the wines show the beautiful scent of cedar wood that is such a hallmark of good Bordeaux, along with the mouth-watering blackcurrant that is Cabernet Sauvignon’s key trait. If you would like to learn more about Bordeaux, I would highly recommend Oz Clarkes book titled simply, “Bordeaux”, full of facts and fun stories, it also reads like more of a road trip than just throwing facts at you.

Chateau Leoville Barton is expensive sure, but it is worth it to experience this level of wine at least once in your life. The estate was classified as a 2nd growth in the 1855 classification of the vineyards of the Medoc. From the Leoville Barton website: “The 1855 classification was initially established at the request of Emperor Napoleon III with the aim of presenting the wines of the Gironde at the Universal Exhibition of Paris. The responsibility of writing the classification was given by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce to the Association of Trade Merchants of the Bordeaux Stock Exchange. Its mission was to devise an official classification based on many years of experience and according to the quality of the Terroir and the reputation of each Château. The Classification was published on the 18th of April 1855 and represented the realities of the market and its evolution over more than a century.”

The vineyard is in the heart of St Julien, amongst some of the most beautiful slopes of Garonne gravel, facing the estuary. The clayey gravel subsoil provides excellent growing conditions whatever weather the vintage brings. The ploughing is traditional, without weeding or herbicide. The grape varieties in the blend are 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. We are currently on the 2009 vintage, this particular year is considered spectacular in the Medoc. If you get this wine open for a good hour or so, it will be perfect to drink now, but it has the bones to continue aging long into the future.

This is incredibly classy, with very concentrated, rich, restrained black fruits, and hints of cedar, minerals and cigar box. It is all in absolutely perfect balance with a wonderful freshness and sublime elegance amid lashings of fruit and very fine tannins. This is a wine that demands the best lamb or beef joint you can afford!