Description

Leoville Barton is always an impressive wine. The 2020 is built to age. It is just a baby now, but with another 15-20 years the 2020 Leoville Barton will be as good as any wine from the vintage. One of the best wines I tasted from 2020.

Chateau Leoville-Barton 2nd Growth St-Julien 2020 is sold En-Primeur. You order and pay now, to receive the En-Primeur pricing. You will receive the wine in mid-late 2023

Chateau Leoville-Barton 2nd Growth St-Julien was originally part of the one great Leoville Estate. Eventually, there was split into three smaller parcels which are now known as Leoville-Barton, Leoville Poyferre and Leoville Las Cases. The Barton family took ownership of their part of the Leoville Estate in 1836 and it has been a much-revered wine since. The Barton family also own Langoa Barton. and both properties make their wines at this Chateau. Chateau Leoville-Barton 2nd Growth St-Julien is one of the great wines of Bordeaux. There are a handful of ‘classic’ Bordeaux wines that you have to try. And Chateau Leoville-Barton 2nd Growth St-Julien is definitely on that list.

Chateau Leoville-Barton 2nd Growth St-Julien 2020 Wine Review

Jeb Dunnuck
95-97 points
“Deep purple-almost blue-in color, the 2020 Château Léoville Barton offers up an exotic, vibrant, perfumed nose that carries loads of pure cassis fruit interwoven with violets, sappy green herbs, and floral aromatics. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, this thick, chewy, powerful Saint-Julien has good acidity, building, firm, yet ripe tannins, and a great finish. My money is on this requiring 15 years to come anywhere close to maturity. It doesn’t get any more classic Barton than this.”

Bordeaux

Situated near the Atlantic coast of France. The Gironde, Dordogne and Garonne rivers provide its shape. Cool conditions and frequent rainfall, including during harvest time, make Bordeaux quite a marginal region with vintages frequently ruined by rain or saved from the rain at the last minute by timely sunshine.

St-Julien

Described as ‘the Gentleman’s Claret’ for its elegance and restraint. These wines often impress for the balance but never blow you away with overt characters or brass flavours. St-Julien wines age very well and in a good cellar, the top wines will probably outlive anyone of us.

Cabernet Sauvignon

The noble variety of Bordeaux’s left bank. Firm tannins, a streak of acidity and punctuated by flavours of cassis, violets, spice and leather. The best examples can age for the long-term. Although Cabernet does often require blending with Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Shiraz to fix the hole it has in its middle palate.

Merlot

It gets a tough time most of the places it is grown. But in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion Merlot not only dominates but makes some of the best wines in the world. Perfume, silky and plush. Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon season the wines with structure and acid but in some places, like Petrus, they are almost not needed.

French Wine

The land that so many New World (not European) wine producers look to emulate. To generalise about French wine, I would say it is savoury, lighter-bodied wines. They are the definition of elegant, complex. There are many styles, though. And there is a French wine for every palate. They lead the world in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Burgundy. Sparkling Wine in Champagne. Cabernet and Merlot in Bordeaux. Syrah(Shiraz) and Grenache in the Rhone Valley. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris in Alsace. Sauvignon Blanc, and Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley. Gamay in Beaujolais.

Wine

Wine is the result you get from fermented grape juice. There is proof of wine production dating back 8000 years ago. Fashions, innovations and many other factors have influenced the way wine has evolved over the years.

The wine grape is pretty special. It contains everything you need to make grape wine except for the yeast, which lives on the outside of the skins.

Human inputs can influence the final product. This includes the viticulture (growing) choices. And the winemaker can shape the wine to a point too.

The best wines of the world often refer to terroir. This is a French term that refers to all the climatic, geological and topographical influences on a specific piece of land. And it is true that neighbouring vineyards, grown identically, can taste noticeably different.

Red Wine

Fun fact; most of the colour for wines comes from the skins. There are only a handful of grapes that have red juice. Alicante is the most well known of these grapes.

By macerating the juice on the skins, the wine gains tannins, and flavours. Certain compounds change the chemistry of the wine too.

Red wines tend to have higher alcohol. More tannin and more oak flavours compared to other styles of wine. But the thousands of grapes and terroirs they grow in influence this.

The Wine Depository

I, Phil, have been running The Wine Depository since 2011. The Wine Depository exists to make sure you are drinking the good wines. You can browse and pick what is interesting to you. Or you can make contact with me. I’ll make sure you get what you want, to your palate, to your budget and to your door.