Chateau Leoville Barton 2025

Beautiful vintage at Léoville Barton, delivers layer upon layer of crayon, graphite, textural interest and character, we are on another level of St Julien and right at the top of the vintage. Black chocolate and espresso coupled with finesse and fragrance that takes you into the heart of St Julien. A flood of flavour, what a brilliantly judged wine, powerful with air in all the right places. Just a breath below the brilliant 2023 for me.

• Name des Kritikers: Jane Anson

Beautiful aromas, expressive and open, really fragrant with bright purple flowers and dark cherries. Supple and so energetic, you can feel some tension here with the tension coming from the really quite high acidity matching the soft fleshiness of the dark blackcurrant and raspberry fruit. I love the character, this has personality and focus. Quite a fun and really engaging wine with great balance and plenty of structure and outer bones that should soften and maybe thicken a little over ageing. I’m sure this will be a beauty. Crushed stone minerality on the finish. One of the lowest yields ever at 22hl/ha.

• Trinkreife: 2026 - 2050
• Name des Kritikers: Georgina Hindle

The 2025 Léoville Barton was picked between 4 September and 18 September and matured in 60% new oak barrels. This has an exquisite bouquet already, with ebullient blackberry and bilberry scents, beautifully integrated oak, keeping the DNA of Léoville Barton despite the warm summer. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, gentle grip, very pure fruit and a "cool" and focused finish. With lower alcohol, between 13.0 and 13.5%, the terroir really shows through here. Superb.

• Trinkreife: 2034 - 2055
• Name des Kritikers: Neal Martin

Dark ripe fruit and a touch of licorice on the nose. Medium- to full-bodied with a firm tannic structure on the palate, showing dark fruit, chocolate and walnut flavors.86% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot and 2% cabernet franc.

• Trinkreife: 2035 - 2065
• Name des Kritikers: James Suckling

The 2025 Léoville Barton is one of my early favorites of the vintage. It carries all the textural intensity and richness of a vintage with paltry yields. As such, it is not an especially classic Léoville Barton, but it is undeniably gorgeous. Black fruit, gravel, chocolate, new leather and licorice add to an impression of gravitas. As always, there's a healthy amount of press wine in the blend. Readers will have to be patient with the 2025, but there's a lot of potential. Tasted two times.

• Trinkreife: 2035 - 2065
• Name des Kritikers: Antonio Galloni

Another wine that will appeal to purists, the 2025 Léoville Barton offers up notes of crème de cassis, violets, pencils shavings and new oak, followed by a medium- to full-bodied, taut and penetrating palate that's racy and youthfully structured, with a concentrated mid-palate that reflects the very low yields (22 hectoliters per hectare) this year. It's a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, harvested between September 4 and 18.

• Name des Kritikers: William Kelley