Leoville Barton 2005

St Julien, Second Growth

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Tasting Notes
Deep ruby red, this is great stuff, broad-shouldered, laced with aniseed, liqourice, touches of bitter black chocolate, muscular tannins and a luscious fruit core. Lip smacking stuff, with 2005 energy and excitement. Gets more serious as it opens, revealing black pepper spice, sage, rosemary and white pepper. A wonderful wine, one to sink into. You can easily wait to drink this, and it will reward another three to five years in bottle, then go for decades. If you do open it, give it a long carafe. 50% new oak. Score: 98 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2024-2050 14 September 2022
The 2005 Léoville-Barton is clearly one of the wines of the vintage. Powerful and strapping in the glass, the 2005 is a big, big wine. Huge swaths of tannin wrap around a core of inky black fruit, new leather, spice, gravel, mocha and licorice. The wine's sheer density is impressive, but its balance is even more compelling. I might be temped to give this another few years in the cellar. Readers lucky enough to own it will find a thrilling, potent Saint-Julien that overdelivers big time. I loved it. Score: 96 Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2023-2045 01 April 2021
Deep ruby. Wonderfully perfumed nose offers cassis, minerals, tobacco, flowers, mocha and truffle. Bright, mineral-driven and concentrated, with terrific underlying backbone giving energy and definition to the dark berry, mineral and chocolate flavors. There's a floral lift here that's exhilarating to find in the very ripe 2005 vintage. Finishes very long and classy, with a firm tannic spine. An outstanding vintage for this wine. Score: 94 Stephen Tanzer, Inside Bordeaux 01 May 2008
Good deep red-ruby. Floral, scented nose shows cassis, violet and licorice. Very lush and rich but with terrific vinosity; large-scaled for this wine but impeccably balanced, with a strong mineral character. Anthony Barton was not a late harvester in 2005, and this wine boasts lovely verve as a result. Finishes with big but broad tannins and superb persistence. Built for a long and graceful evolution in bottle. Score: 92 - 94 Stephen Tanzer, Inside Bordeaux 01 May 2007
Deep ruby. Sappy, fruit-driven aromas of black cherry, black raspberry and currant. Ripe and dense but lively, with palate-saturating currant and dark chocolate flavors; cooler and drier than many of its St. Julien neighbors. This has excellent energy, even in the context of this vibrant vintage. Here the substantial tannins are finer than those of the Langoa, and the finishing flavors reach the teeth. Today, the finish of this wine makes the Langoa seem a bit tart in comparison. But this, too, is extremely unevolved today, and built for long aging. Wait until 2014. Score: 90 - 93 Stephen Tanzer, Inside Bordeaux 01 May 2006
Another prodigious, but brutally tannic, offering from the affable Anthony Barton, the inky/blue/black-hued 2005 Leoville Barton exhibits a sensational perfume of charcoal, burning embers, underbrush, cedar, creme de cassis, and subtle toasty oak. Painfully concentrated (much like the 2000 was at the same stage), with full body, admirable purity, and several boatloads of muscular tannin, this St.-Julien is built for 50-60 years of cellaring. Its purity and precision are typical of today’s winemaking, but Barton is certainly not making a wine for near-term gratification. This is another 2005 that will require enormous patience. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2065. Score: 94 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2065 30 April 2008
What can you say about Anthony Barton? He has made yet another classic wine that will not be approachable for a decade, but will last 50 or more years. The inky/blue/purple-colored 2005 Leoville Barton offers up aromas of forest floor, cedar, spice box, black currants, and background oak as well as smoke. Boasting massive concentration, full body, and exceptional purity, but excruciatingly tannic and backward, this cuvee is meant for those with 19th century tastes, but also exhibits the purity and precision of modern winemaking. Patience is demanded with this beauty as it will take many years to approach any level of accessibility/maturity. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2060+. Score: 94 - 96 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2060 30 April 2007
A monumental beast possessing dramatic levels of concentration, tannin, and potential, Leoville-Barton’s opaque purple-hued 2005 reveals amazingly sweet notes of black currants, damp forest floor, and spice box. It is a deep, powerful, unctuously-textured effort with enough acidity to provide freshness as well as definition. Broader and more masculine than the 2000, and more classic than the 2003, the 2005 is a monster meant for long-term aging. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2055. Score: 94 - 96 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 30 April 2006
Lively crimson – looks very youthful. Light, mineral notes on the nose. Fine tannins at first, becoming dominant on the mid palate. Very tight and fine-tuned. Reined in. Far from opulent with lots of dryness on the finish. Dry, grainy tannins. Extremely solid and earthbound. Set for the very long term. Langoa is more expressive for the moment but may not last as long. Score: 17 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2018-2030 10 April 2006
Fantastic aromas of currants, black licorice and berries. Fresh flowers. Light smoke. Big and velvety with loads of fruit. Long. Gorgeous. Sexy. Love it. Seems like another 2003; wait and see. Score: 95 - 100 James Suckling, Wine Spectator 01 April 2006
A very classic nose with a marked minerality and licorice Cabernet character. On the palate it is superbly defined with ripe sandy tannins, very typical Leoville Barton. A very long, clean finish. Polished and effortless, this is the ultimate in restraint. Score: - Albany Vintners, - 01 January 1900

Tasting Notes

Deep ruby red, this is great stuff, broad-shouldered, laced with aniseed, liqourice, touches of bitter black chocolate, muscular tannins and a luscious fruit core. Lip smacking stuff, with 2005 energy and excitement. Gets more serious as it opens, revealing black pepper spice, sage, rosemary and white pepper. A wonderful wine, one to sink into. You can easily wait to drink this, and it will reward another three to five years in bottle, then go for decades. If you do open it, give it a long carafe. 50% new oak.

Score: 98

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2024-2050 14 September 2022

The 2005 Léoville-Barton is clearly one of the wines of the vintage. Powerful and strapping in the glass, the 2005 is a big, big wine. Huge swaths of tannin wrap around a core of inky black fruit, new leather, spice, gravel, mocha and licorice. The wine's sheer density is impressive, but its balance is even more compelling. I might be temped to give this another few years in the cellar. Readers lucky enough to own it will find a thrilling, potent Saint-Julien that overdelivers big time. I loved it.

Score: 96

Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2023-2045 01 April 2021

Deep ruby. Wonderfully perfumed nose offers cassis, minerals, tobacco, flowers, mocha and truffle. Bright, mineral-driven and concentrated, with terrific underlying backbone giving energy and definition to the dark berry, mineral and chocolate flavors. There's a floral lift here that's exhilarating to find in the very ripe 2005 vintage. Finishes very long and classy, with a firm tannic spine. An outstanding vintage for this wine.

Score: 94

Stephen Tanzer, Inside Bordeaux 01 May 2008

Good deep red-ruby. Floral, scented nose shows cassis, violet and licorice. Very lush and rich but with terrific vinosity; large-scaled for this wine but impeccably balanced, with a strong mineral character. Anthony Barton was not a late harvester in 2005, and this wine boasts lovely verve as a result. Finishes with big but broad tannins and superb persistence. Built for a long and graceful evolution in bottle.

Score: 92 - 94

Stephen Tanzer, Inside Bordeaux 01 May 2007

Deep ruby. Sappy, fruit-driven aromas of black cherry, black raspberry and currant. Ripe and dense but lively, with palate-saturating currant and dark chocolate flavors; cooler and drier than many of its St. Julien neighbors. This has excellent energy, even in the context of this vibrant vintage. Here the substantial tannins are finer than those of the Langoa, and the finishing flavors reach the teeth. Today, the finish of this wine makes the Langoa seem a bit tart in comparison. But this, too, is extremely unevolved today, and built for long aging. Wait until 2014.

Score: 90 - 93

Stephen Tanzer, Inside Bordeaux 01 May 2006

Another prodigious, but brutally tannic, offering from the affable Anthony Barton, the inky/blue/black-hued 2005 Leoville Barton exhibits a sensational perfume of charcoal, burning embers, underbrush, cedar, creme de cassis, and subtle toasty oak. Painfully concentrated (much like the 2000 was at the same stage), with full body, admirable purity, and several boatloads of muscular tannin, this St.-Julien is built for 50-60 years of cellaring. Its purity and precision are typical of today’s winemaking, but Barton is certainly not making a wine for near-term gratification. This is another 2005 that will require enormous patience. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2065.

Score: 94

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2065 30 April 2008

What can you say about Anthony Barton? He has made yet another classic wine that will not be approachable for a decade, but will last 50 or more years. The inky/blue/purple-colored 2005 Leoville Barton offers up aromas of forest floor, cedar, spice box, black currants, and background oak as well as smoke. Boasting massive concentration, full body, and exceptional purity, but excruciatingly tannic and backward, this cuvee is meant for those with 19th century tastes, but also exhibits the purity and precision of modern winemaking. Patience is demanded with this beauty as it will take many years to approach any level of accessibility/maturity. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2060+.

Score: 94 - 96

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2060 30 April 2007

A monumental beast possessing dramatic levels of concentration, tannin, and potential, Leoville-Barton’s opaque purple-hued 2005 reveals amazingly sweet notes of black currants, damp forest floor, and spice box. It is a deep, powerful, unctuously-textured effort with enough acidity to provide freshness as well as definition. Broader and more masculine than the 2000, and more classic than the 2003, the 2005 is a monster meant for long-term aging. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2055.

Score: 94 - 96

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 30 April 2006

Lively crimson – looks very youthful. Light, mineral notes on the nose. Fine tannins at first, becoming dominant on the mid palate. Very tight and fine-tuned. Reined in. Far from opulent with lots of dryness on the finish. Dry, grainy tannins. Extremely solid and earthbound. Set for the very long term. Langoa is more expressive for the moment but may not last as long.

Score: 17

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2018-2030 10 April 2006

Fantastic aromas of currants, black licorice and berries. Fresh flowers. Light smoke. Big and velvety with loads of fruit. Long. Gorgeous. Sexy. Love it. Seems like another 2003; wait and see.

Score: 95 - 100

James Suckling, Wine Spectator 01 April 2006

A very classic nose with a marked minerality and licorice Cabernet character. On the palate it is superbly defined with ripe sandy tannins, very typical Leoville Barton. A very long, clean finish. Polished and effortless, this is the ultimate in restraint.

Score: -

Albany Vintners, - 01 January 1900

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