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Classically perfumed violet fruit aromas, which are so typical of Langoa at its best. This is a very complete wine with harmonised fruit characteristics, supported by good rounded tannins. It finishes with a beautifully uplifting freshness, to provide length and complexity. DR
Classically perfumed violet fruit aromas, which are so typical of Langoa at its best. This is a very complete wine with harmonised fruit characteristics, supported by good rounded tannins. It finishes with a beautifully uplifting freshness, to provide length and complexity. DR
Tasted at the chateau and twice at the UGC, the Langoa Barton has a very ripe, well-defined bouquet with dark berried fruits and just a hint of oyster shell. The palate is silky smooth, cashmere tannins, very pure with dark cherries a touch of cassis, very refined and composed, slips down the throat beautifully. So pure and beguiling, there is a crystalline quality to this Langoa that is utterly compelling. Drink 2018-
Another wine showing better from bottle than it did from barrel, the 2010 Langoa Barton has the typical structured, dense style, but just as I thought earlier on, it is a much softer and more developed wine than one ordinarily expects from proprietor Anthony Barton. It is full-bodied and impressively endowed with subtle oak, rich cassis fruit and notes of new saddle leather, forest floor, cedar wood and spice box. Full, authoritative and dense, this wine should be at its best between 2018 and 2035.Drink: 2018-2035
Softer than I expected given the highly extracted, exceptionally tannic wines routinely produced by proprietor Anthony Barton, the oaky, powerfully concentrated, dense 2010 Langoa Barton possesses silky, well-integrated tannins. Nevertheless, the level of wood and the primary nature of the black currant and black cherry fruit suggest 7-8 years of cellaring will be essential. This is a 30-year wine. Drink: 2018 - 2048
Having tasted the 2005 Château Lafite-Rothschild several times both blind and non-blind, it comes across as a First Growth politely requesting more time to "settle". Here, from an ex-château bottle tasted in Bordeaux, it delivers that graphite, pencil-box bouquet that unfurls gradually in the glass, biding its time, graceful but not intense. Parallel to some of its fellow 2005s, it is developing a little more spice, namely thyme and sage, than I recall. The palate is medium-bodied and beautifully balanced, to wit, a sophisticated Pauillac that priorities elegance and poise over intensity of fruit—in keeping with Lafite Rothschild's style. You come away with the sense that it will take its time and decline, giving away a great deal in its primacy, even if it is still more approachable than the 2005 Latour for example. Therefore, I would be inclined to set this aside for several more years. Tasted November 2014.
What a depth of fruit here, with dark chocolate and currants and blackberries. Full and velvety. Wonderful texture. Like it. Better than 2009.
Very good extraction of supple, succulent ripe fruit, a beautifully lifted and long palate, the length and harmony of a great Langoa. Drink 2018-35.
Tasted 17 Feb: Blend just done. Very dark purple. Really rather exotic on the nose. Very lustrous and luscious. Extremely ripe and hedonistic – like 2009 but with more tannin. Tasted blind 8 Apr: Mid crimson. Notably ripe with black fruits on the nose. Then sinew and a cool finish but much more luscious than some St-Juliens. Not tarted up. A very good ambassador for the vintage's characteristics. Dry finish. Very fine tannins. Succulent fruit on the nose. Lively andpolished and with real vitality and pzazz. Good lift yet the solid framework of a fine St-Julien. Still very embryonic with lots of fine tannins. (Score 17.5 22-35) Drink 2020-2035
Pure, with a gorgeous beam of dark cassis and violet racing along, while black tea, spice, tobacco and tar flitter in the background. The finish is superpolished and very, very long. -J.M.
St Julien is like the middle child of the Médoc - not as assertive as Pauillac or as coquettish as Margaux. It lies firmly between the two more outspoken communes and as a result produces a blend of them both. St Julien's wines have often been sought out by aficionados for their balance and consistency, particularly in the UK. Yet due to its middle child nature, it can occasionally be overlooked globally and as a result underrated by those markets outside the UK. Despite the fact that it has no first growths, it has several second growths including Léoville Las Cases, Léoville Barton, Léoville Poyferré and Ducru Beaucaillou as well as the celebrated châteaux such as Talbot and Beychevelle.
