Some of the best wines in the Medoc
Date: Tuesday, November 21 @ 18:36:39 MST
Topic: Inside Bordeaux
TALL, elegant and handsome, Anthony Barton can easily pass for one of England's landed gentry, always the perfect gentleman, always very hospitable and very warmly welcoming.
His wines are a joy to taste, and he is a mine of information, the kind of information that can only come from an insider.
Not just about the vintage and the wine, but snippets of information, anecdotes of exchanges with his Bordeaux colleagues - all very helpful towards understanding the culture that is Bordeaux.
There can be hardly anyone more esteemed or admired in all Bordeaux than Anthony.
The reasons are simple. Not only is he the perfect gentleman, he also makes one of the best wines in the Medoc, vintage after vintage.
And he tops that with the most sensible and most reasonable en primeur prices of all the top classified growths.
I always remember what he said when I visited him in 2001 to taste his vintage 2000 wines. Leoville Barton had already 'come out' at 30 euros (S$60) and within two weeks, was being marketed at more than double that price.
He was aware of this when I asked if he knew (which was a silly question as of course he would know) and his reply was the most honest and most modest statement I have ever heard a Chateau owner make: 'My wine is not worth that price! I price my wines at what I think they are worth and at those prices, I already make a decent profit.'
I have not heard similar statements by any other wine grower or producer before or since then.
The same thing has happened with the 2005 vintage. Leoville Barton opened at 49.50 euros and within a few days, its price had increased 50 per cent. Today, the price is 88 euros. For comparison, Chateau Cos d'Estournel opened at 120 euros, Pichon at 83 euros and Palmer at 150 euros.
'We are almost 100 per cent up on our usual prices,' Anthony said, shaking his head. It explains why when Leoville Barton is released en primeur; it is always very quickly sold out.
Some history and some facts first. Chateaux Leoville Barton and Langoa Barton have the distinction of having remained in the hands of the same family for 185 years, Langoa being purchased in 1821, and Leoville Barton the following year by Hugh Barton, Anthony's great-great-great grandfather.
Anthony inherited the chateaux from his uncle Ronald Barton in 1983. The chateau where Anthony and his wife Eva live and where the wines of Leoville Barton and Langoa Barton are made is actually Chateau Langoa Barton. There is no chateau at Chateau Leoville Barton.
Leoville Barton could be called the archetypal Saint-Julien. The 47 ha of vineyards are planted with 70 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 per cent Merlot, and 8 per cent Cabernet Franc and 2 per cent Petit Verdot.
The average age of the vines is 30 years, and average annual production 22,000 cases. Chateau Leoville Barton is characteristically a big and rich wine, dense, intense and complex.
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TASTING NOTES
Langoa Barton 2003
Very deep colour, lovely quite developed nose. Very ripe fruit on the palate, lots of freshness on the palate, lingering clean finish. Lovely wine.
Leoville Barton 2003
This is bigger, still very closed, hardly any bouquet. There is more structure here, more freshness, and much longer finish. Excellent. Anthony thinks 2003 is a great vintage.
Langoa Barton 2005
Intensely dark purple with opaque centre. Sensuous nose of ripe fruit, seductive. A very complex wine, quite compact, very fresh, elegant and refined. Very long finish. Great wine.
Leoville Barton 2005
Similar black purple colour. Very fine refined delicate nose of blackcurrants and cedar. A great wine, harmonious, very fresh on the palate, very dense almost impenetrable wine, quite tannic, long long finish. More complexity and bigger than Langoa.
2004 vintage
I had tasted them from the barrel last year and thought they were extremely good. These were my notes in May 2005 at the Chateau:
Langoa
Deep purple, lovely nose with scents of oak and ripe cassis, concentrated, with harmony and elegance.
Leoville
A big wine, very deep, very dense. Black-red, very intense concentration, very ripe fruit with soft ripe tannins. A great wine.
I was curious what Anthony thought about the 2004 vintage. 'The trouble with 2004 is that it is caught between 2003 and 2005!' he said. 'My assessment is that all three vintages of Leoville and Langoa - 2003, 2004 and 2005 - are very good, with perhaps 2005 having the edge on the other two.
Essentially, the three vintages reflect the weather conditions of the vintage, with 2003 being super-ripe, 2004 elegant and classic, and the 2005 being a combination of the best qualities of the two vintages.'
The 2004s are the best buy of the three right now. They are excellent wines which will be long-lived and are much cheaper than 2005. But if you have to have the 2005, both Bartons are among the most reasonably priced 2005s - if you can find them. I am still receiving countless lists of the 2005s still available, and I have bad news - I have not seen Langoa or Leoville Barton listed on any of them.
N K Yong - July 21, 2006;
The Business Times
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