Chateau Leoville Barton 2000

Description

Score: 97 Country: France Region: Bordeaux Issue: Mar 31, 2003 Designation: Highly Recommended Amazingly rich and silky. Lots of chocolate and blackberry aromas with hints of raspberries. Full-bodied, with silky, round tannins. Great concentration. Long, long finish. This is the biggest, most powerful ever from Léoville Barton. Best after 2012. 20,000 cases made. JS Wine Advocate #189 Jun 2010 Robert Parker 95+ Drink: 2018 – 2050 I found this to be one of the more backward wines of the 2000 vintage and gave it a window of maturity of 2015-2040 when I reviewed it in 2003. In my two recent tastings of it, I changed that window to 2018-2050, which probably says more than the following tasting note could say. This is a behemoth  dense, highly extracted, very tannic, broodingly backward, with a dense purple color and very little evolution since it was bottled 8 years ago. Wonderfully sweet cedar and fruitcake notes are intermixed with hints of creme de cassis, licorice, and earthy forest floor. It is full-bodied and tannic, with everything in place, but like so many wines that come from Leoville Barton, it makes a mockery of many modern-day consumers wanting a wine for immediate gratification. Those who bought it should continue to exercise patience and be proud to own a wonderful classic with five decades of longevity ahead of it.