Chateau Leoville Barton

History

Thomas Barton left his native Ireland in 1722 at the age of 27 years, to France, first to Montpellier and then Marseille, working for his maternal uncles Thomas and William Dickson. He went to Bordeaux in 1725 and became interested in wine and soon founded his first company which was later to become Barton & Guestier.

By 1737 he already made a small fortune and was well respected in Bordeaux and in 1743 he introduced his son William to the business. Because of the French law stipulated that estates of any foreigner dying in France would revert to the French Crown, Thomas had never bought any vineyard, but had rent an attractive home in Medoc, Chateau Le Boscq in St-Estephe.

It was his grandson Hugh who became the first member to actually own a vineyard later on. After Thomas died in 1780, the family possessions in France and Ireland was inherited by his only son William. Later on William’s fourth son Hugh became successor to the business in Bordeaux, beginning as a wine merchant in 1786, and with his energy the company flourished until the Revolution broke out in 1793.

Hugh and his wife Anna were arrested and put in prison, their property seized. Unexpectedly Hugh and Anna were released late that year and left France for a long period but Hugh continued to keep in touch with his partners in France and the business prospered to such an extent that in 1821 he was able to purchase Chateau Langoa and in 1826 a part of the Leoville estate, which became Leoville Barton.

Following Hugh, three generations succeeded him as owners of the two vineyards but spent most of their time in Ireland and it was up to Ronald to become the first Barton since Hugh to make serious contributions to the French interests of the family. Earlier Ronald’s father Bertram had bought out the interests of his brother and two cousins and was therefore in a position to leave the vineyards in their entirety to Ronald

In 1940 Ronald hastily left France to join the army as a liaison officer with the Free French forces in England and then in Middle East and the Syrian campaign. He returned to France in 1945 to find the vineyards in a very neglected state, but with great optimism he restored them slowly and made some memorable vintages.

Ronald remained at the helm until his death in 1986, and by 1983 he donated the properties to his nephew Anthony, who after studies in Ireland and England, came to settle in France in 1951, but with the low prices in market and some bad vintages the start was not encouraging.

The affairs of B&G were better and in 1954 Seagram took a 50% interest in the business and a few years later became majority shareholder. Since 1986 Anthony and his wife Eva has lived in the chateau.

Chateau

At the time of the 1855 classification, Leoville Barton is a second grand cru classe, with Leoville having 50 hectares of gravelly soils with a clay sub-soil, including large proportions of old vines. With 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, the wines are typical of the St-Julien area, with well-balanced subtle bouquets and flavors.

The grapes are picked at maximum ripeness and fermented at a controlled temperature of 30-32 degree Celsius, in wooden vats of approximately 200 hectolitres. A modern crush-destemmer is in place and the wine press is also of the latest technology, with the fermentation lasting for about 5 days with twice pumping over per day.

The wine is left with the skins for about two weeks, and then are drawn off and pressed for the pressed wine to add to the final blend. Malolactic fermentation takes place in the vats, after which the wine is drawn off for ageing in barrels.

I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with fading rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium intensity aromas of black fruit of cassis, plum and blackberry, dried fruit of prune, animal notes of leather, mineral notes of graphite, pungent spice of licorice, kernel notes of mocha, maturity notes of savory, oak notes of cedar. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, the wine has medium (+) tannin of ripe but a bit grippy in texture, medium alcohol and medium body, demonstrating medium (+) intensity of flavors including black fruit of cassis and blackberry, herbal notes of Chinese medicine, pungent spice of licorice, sweet spice of clove. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality St-Julien with good intensity on the nose showing complex characters, with a wide range of aromas, the wine has an elegance structure, with nice acidity, lively but the tannin is a bit too grippy. The palate has good concentration too with a reasonable finish. It is ready to drink now but can further develop for another 3-5 years.