2017 Chateau Leoville Barton

 

Robert Parker: 95/100

Château Léoville Barton was born from the division of the Domaine de Léoville in 1826, when Hugh Barton, an Irishman who already owned Château Langoa in Saint-Julien, bought part of the vineyard. This was the birth of a new great name in Bordeaux, along with the two other parcels that resulted from the sale, Léoville Las Cases and Léoville Poyferré. Today, almost two centuries later, the estate is still owned by the Barton family, an unusual situation in Bordeaux, where transactions have always been brisk. Anthony Barton took over in 1983 and has made us forget the difficult vintages of the Second World War and the decline of the 1970s with a spectacular revival, especially since 1985. A remarkable 2000 ushered in the 21st century in style, followed by a simply sublime 2005. Among the estate's many assets are a high proportion of old vines and the use of tuns, most of them over fifty years old, which were deliberately retained when most Bordeaux crus were abandoning them in favour of the innovation of the time, the stainless steel vat. As the estate has neither a château nor a winery, vinification and ageing take place at Langoa Barton.