| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > St Julien |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
The 2014 Léoville Barton has a seductive and beautifully composed bouquet with ample brambly red fruit, sous-bois and light pencil shavings scents. This has real finesse. The palate is well balanced with fine tannins, a keen line of acidity and more salinity than its peers. What feels like top-quality new oak smooths the finish but does not impose itself. This is a classy Saint-Julien from the Barton family. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting. 2027 - 2050
Very aromatic with cherries and blackberries. Hints of flowers. Full body, lightly chewy yet ultra-fine tannins and a fresh finish. Tangy and delicious. Racy. Better in 2021.
The 2014 Leoville Barton has a medium to deep garnet-brick color. It is a tad broody to start, with notions of tar, damp soil, and smoked meats giving way to a core of blackcurrant cordial and fruitcake, plus a hint of unsmoked cigars. The medium-bodied palate has a firm structure of grainy tannins and bold freshness supporting the muscular black fruits, finishing long with a spicy kick.
Tasted blind. Some polish, charm and rigour too. Just what I want of a St-Julien! Very vibrant. Dry finish but I think it will all come right as there is just so much going on there. Wonderfully long. Intense.
Drink 2025-2045
Leoville Barton was the top performing St Julien at the 2014 Southwold group tasting.
A deep, opaque ruby in the glass, there is a perfect harmony between exotic star anise and wood smoke, and the dense, enticing cassis fruit. The palate is rich and powerful, with an explosive core of blackcurrant and black cherry fruit. The tannins are rich and mouthcoating but ripe, poitning to a long and favourable ageing curve for this wine. Superb purity of fruit drives through to an extremely long finish, again pointing to the ageing potential. The smoky notes from the oak are already well integrated, adding flashes of spicy, savoury complexity. A superb effort.
While a solid step back from the sensational 2015, the 2014 Léoville Barton is still a beauty. Possessing medium-bodied notes of cassis, sweet oak, spice and flowers, this impeccably balanced Saint-Julien is incredibly classy, layered and pure on the palate. While this cuvee can be backward and difficult to taste young, the 2014 has a supple, beautifully textured, fresh style that’s already approachable. Nevertheless, a few years in the cellar will do it well, and it should keep for two to three decades. 2020 - 2050
This has a solid core of cassis, blueberry confiture and plum sauce flavors, wrapped with warm ganache and licorice snap notes, kept honest by graphite rivets along the finish. This has lots of muscle, but stays lean and long. Best from 2020 through 2035. 11,667 cases made.
Firm on the nose the start of the palate has structure serious brooding black fruits. There is a sweeter feel on the mid palate some ripe cassis lots of black cherry and although the tannins are obvious they give structure rather than over powering the fruit. 2028-45
Léoville-Barton is more tannic and closed than its stablemate Langoa-Barton at this stage, as it often tends to be, but has the fruit weight and power to emerge from behind the extraction over time. Built to last, this is an ambitious Cabernet-based red of considerable quality.
The 2014 Léoville Barton has a crisp, poised bouquet with graphite tinged black fruit, hints of crushed flower and clove, nicely define and gaining definition with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, beautifully judged acidity, sophisticated and poised, fanning out with confidence towards the fresh, energetic finish. This is a succinct and beautifully crafted Saint Julien with many years of drinking enjoyment to give. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2021 - 2050
The 2014 Leoville Barton is one of the must-buys of the vintage. Now in bottle, it has a very pure bouquet that gains intensity in the glass, laden with blackberry and raspberry coulis scents, cold wet stone, a wonderful mineralité that becomes more conspicuous with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with tensile tannin, a fine line of acidity that lends this precision and nervosité. There is class and sophistication in situ, not a powerful Léoville Barton, but beautifully poised. This is just a brilliant forerunner to the 2015 and it should represent great value. Drink 2020-2050
The Château Léoville-Barton 2014 is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc picked between 25 September and 8 October and matured in 60% new oak. This is clearly richer and more opulent than the Langoa Barton with small dark cherries, a touch of boysenberry and cedar, more immediate than its “little sister”. The palate is sweet and sappy in the mouth with concentrated black fruit, hints of liquorice coming through on the finish that fans out with a bit of brio. It does not quite possess the clinical precision of Léoville Las-Cases, but there is certainly a lot of substance and length here. Lilian Barton can rightly be proud of this. Tasted on three occasions.
Drink: 2019 - 2040
A very fine and linear Barton with bright raspberries and cherries. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a long, beautiful finish. Sleek and racy.
Dark vibrant crimson. Much sweeter and more opulent on the nose than most St-Juliens. Very firm and rich with real savour and glamour. Smooth texture but no shortage of tannins underneath. A long-term wine.
Drink 2024-2040
anthony barton's second growth is always a top quality bordeaux of classic proportions. structured, cabernet sauvignon based wines that are serious, controlled and pure. 83% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot, 2% cabernet franc. very deep purple in colour. pure, ripe cabernet notes of cassis, with a little liquorice spice. the palate is big and dense, with lots of tannic structure. the black fruit is layered with smoky, toasty oak adding firmness to the wine. this is a dense, brooding leoville barton that will take some time to be ready in bottle based on this tasting.
