Saint-Julien 2° Grand Cru Classé 2023 - Parker 96

Winemaker and vineyard : The Léoville Barton terroir is located on one of the finest gravelly slopes in the Garonne, facing the Gironde, in the heart of the Saint Julien appellation in the Médoc, 40 km north of Bordeaux. The different heights of gravel left by the river characterise the terroir of Léoville Barton, which, combined with the history and people who have shaped it, has produced one of the greatest red wines in the world. The clay-gravel subsoil is a perfect regulator of the vagaries of the year's climate. https://www.leoville-barton.com

Tasting : LThe 2023 Léoville Barton is showing beautifully, wafting from the glass with aromas of cassis, pencil shavings, burning embers and a discreet touch of new oak. Medium- to full-bodied, supple and layered, it's deep, dense and classically structured, with ripe tannins, excellent purity of fruit and a penetrating finish. It's a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc that weighs in at 13% alcohol.

This great Médoc second growth has been on a qualitative roll in recent vintages, and the estate's brand new winery and chai, equipped with smaller fermentation vats to permit more precise parcel-by-parcel selection, will surely see Léoville and Langoa Barton hit even greater heights. The 2019 vintage, however, made in the old winery, has turned out superbly, uniting the Barton family's signature Cabernet-driven classicism with all the fleshy, perfumed charm of the vintage. In the vineyards, a steadily increasing percentage is farmed organically, and the old manual methods are perpetuated (tying the vines to their supporting stakes using osier instead of string; removing lateral shoots by hand, etc.). As proprietors of much of the appellation's woodland, the Barton family have always been in the forefront of newly fashionable "agroforestry." And period replanting increasingly aims to adapt grape variety to soil type, the heart of Léoville-Barton being of course Cabernet Sauvignon growing on the superbly situated quaternary gravel soils of Saint-Julien. In the cellar, barrels are largely supplied by Nadalié, Maury and Taransaud, and racking is traditional. A comparatively large percentage of press wine lends backbone and classic grip to the assemblage. robertparker.com

Service : Serve it at a room temperature of 16-18°C with a filet mignon.