Chateau Leoville Barton 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien 2010

Softened plum in colour, still very closed on the aromatics but there's no hiding the quality underneath, chocolate drops, blueberry, damson, confident architecture packed with chalky tannins. A big vintage that needs more time. 60% new oak barrels for ageing, harvest 28 September to 8 October.

This is phenomenal, with dark fruits, with cassis and blackberries Full and super silky, with incredible fruit and ripe tannins. It goes on and on. So much depth of fruit here. Barton is on a roll again in this vintage.

A splendid showing, much stronger from bottle than it was from barrel, the Leoville Barton is one of the spectacular wines of the vintage. Inky purple to the rim, its huge tannin gives this wine real potential for 30-50 years of longevity. It is a classic, powerful Bordeaux made with no compromise. A superstar of the vintage, the wine has notes of pen ink and creme de cassis, good acidity, sweet, subtle oak, and massive extraction and concentration. I thought it was one of the most backward wines of the vintage two years ago, and nothing has changed in the ensuing upbringing of the wine in cask except that the wine now seems even richer, denser and fuller than I previously thought. The beautiful purity, symmetry, and huge finish of nearly a minute make this one of the all-time great classics from Leoville Barton.
The 2010 Leoville Barton was almost impossible to evaluate because of its highly extracted, masculine, muscular style. However, it exhibits a dense purple color along with surprising amounts of oak, excruciatingly painful tannin levels, good acidity and a massive mouthfeel. One of the biggest, most backward wines of the vintage, forget it for a decade and drink it over the following 30+ years.

Deep ruby. Very ripe, powerful aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice and bitter chocolate. Sweet, dense, ripe and deep, with outstanding purity and intensity to its plush black fruit and spice flavors. This has the sweetness of a great Napa Valley cabernet along with buns of steel. Finishes with penetrating fruit and outstanding verve and persistence. For all its creamy richness, this should be extremely long-lived.

(77% cabernet sauvignon, 21% merlot and 2% cabernet franc; 60% new oak; 13.2% alcohol) Deep inky-purple. Knockout aromas of smoky plum, chocolate-coated blackcurrant, balsamic vinegar and aromatic herbs. Suave, sweet and fine-grained, with creamy-rich cassis, smoke and sweet spice flavors given definition by firm acidity. Finishes with subtly powerful, building length and fully ripe tannins. This strikes me as the best Leoville Barton in years, a really mesmerizing wine that's already remarkably pliant and accessible but also has a great future ahead of it. Drink from 2018 through 2040.

The 2010 Leoville Barton is deep garnet in color, and the nose is a little tired, with notes of stewed plums and dried cherries over hints of balsamic, tobacco, spice box and fried herbs. The medium to full-bodied palate has a solid backbone of firm, chewy tannins and plenty of freshness supporting the mature fruit, finishing spicy.

Two bottles of the 2010 Léoville Barton were opened, the first showing just a little oxidation, the second thankfully fresher although maybe not quite as representative as I would like. Black fruit, earthy scents and touches of undergrowth come through. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, plenty of graphite infused black fruit, but it feels a little blunt on the finish and does not quite convey the length of its peers. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.