Leoville Barton Saint Julien 2012 1.5 Liter / Magnum
Thomas Baron left his native Ireland to settle in Bordeaux,founding a wine merchant company. His grandson, Hugh Barton, purchased 50 hectares of vines located in the Saint Julien appellation. In the historic 1855 classification, the château was to be awarded the rank of "Second Classified Growth". The property was managed by the various generations over the years until Anthony Barton raised Château Léoville Barton to the level of international recognition it enjoys today. The Barton story continues with his daughter, Lilian, and her two children, now writing the chapter of the 10th generation.
Critical Acclaim
96 Wine Enthusiast
Firmly tannic in character, this wine is dry and extracted. There's potential for this powerful, impressive wine to bear the wine's very dry character with the weight of its fruit.
93 Vinous
The 2012 Léoville-Barton has a touch more precision and drive compared to 2012 Langoa-Barton, blackberry and raspberry, cedar and mint, almost Pauillac in style. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, quite feisty and vibrant with good concentration on the finish. This is quite a serious Saint-Julien, and it has the substance to age well in bottle. Excellent.
92 Wine Advocate
Dense ruby/purple, with cassis licorice and forest floors notes in the aromatics, Léoville-Barton’s 2012 is a relatively big, rich, masculine style of wine. This full-bodied wine needs 5-8 years of cellaring and should evolve easily for 25-30 years.
91 Jeb Dunnuck
A more mid-weight, elegant expression from this château, the 2012 Château Léoville Barton is nevertheless an outstanding wine with plenty to love. Revealing a vivid ruby hue as well as beautiful cassis and darker currant fruits, it has lots of graphite, cedar pencil, and spicy notes, medium body, a light, elegant mouthfeel, and soft, ultra-fine tannins. This complex, elegant Barton shines with just an hour of air and will continue drinking nicely over the coming 10-15 years.
91 James Suckling
Floral and fruity red with hints of vanilla. Medium to full body, fine tannins and a crisp finish. Loosely knit. This needs three or four years to come together.