Chateau Leoville Barton 2013

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is very pretty with currant, plum and chocolate aromas and flavors. Medium to full body, silky mouth feel and a savory finish. Bright and delicious. Drink now or hold."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "Part of the select group of impressive wines from this year, this wine is ripe, rich and firmly structured. Black-currant fruitiness forms the base for solid tannins and a concentrated texture. The hints of wood-aging need to soften. Drink from 2022."

WINE SPECTATOR: "This has grip and focus from the start, with a lively brambly spine carrying plum cake, raspberry coulis and black currant flavors before yielding to an ample roasted apple wood note on the finish. A lightly tarry hint echoes. Best from 2018 through 2025. 11,667 cases made."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2013 Léoville-Barton has a more backward bouquet compared to the Langoa-Barton 2013, but there is more perfume here with blackberry, a touch of sea spray and cold limestone. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannin, a crisp line of acidity with finesse and elegance on the finish, which is one of the best you´ll find in Saint Julien. This finishes with a flourish after a conservative opening and it should yield a decade of pleasure, maybe more. This is a solid showing in a tough vintage."

DECANTER: "Always reassuring to see an estate that succeeds in such a difficult vintage. This has some lovely gourmet touches from the oak, the smoky side being a real bonus. This is clearly going to be ready to drink earlier than any other vintage in this line-up, but it’s really rather lovely nonetheless. Drinking Window 2020 - 2035"

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Quite nice for the vintage, and it´s going to drink well young, which is something you do not often find in Leoville Barton. The wine provides a medium bodied, early drinking, soft textured, cassis and plum character, with hints of cedar, tobacco and earth. A few years in the cellar should be about right."