The 2017 Barbaresco Montestefano is a dark, brooding beauty. Super-ripe black cherry, plum, mocha, cloves, leather and licorice add to a real sense of gravitas that runs through the 2017. Readers need to be patient with the Montestefano. I suspect it will...
With fabulous richness and purity, medium to full body, undeniable elegance for its size, and a long, textured, multidimensional finish, it is the finest Les Origines Alain Jaume has yet produced.
This fully mature, gorgeous 2003 Branaire Ducru possesses silky tannins, lots of cedary, spice box, floral, black cherry, forest floor and velvety leather-like notes, full body, and an opulent, complex yet elegant style. A beauty of complexity, richness a...
Performing as I expected, but still several years away from full maturity, this extraordinarily flamboyant, full-bodied, opulent, sexy St. Estephe stood out for its backward structure and youthful personality. A dark plum/garnet hue is followed by a super...
Still one of the most backward wines of the vintage, Leoville-Barton’s 1982 is a wine of huge extract, high tannin, and a somewhat ancient style that recalls some of the Bordeaux of the late forties. The color is still a dense, even murky, opaque ruby/gar...
Step into the heart of what St Julien does best here, firm and muscular but thoroughly juicy tannins, concentrated blackberry and cassis fruits that are mature but full of finesse, with just the right amount of precision and tension. This is a wine where ...
The 2024 Léoville Barton is a very beautiful wine. Black cherry, plum, lavender, new leather, graphite, crushed rocks, mocha and spice all meld together. A wine of classical build, Léoville Barton is also wonderfully deep and expressive. Today, all of ...
Somewhat closed and reticent after bottling, but still impressive, this 1995 possesses a dark ruby/purple color, as well as an oaky nose with classic scents of cassis, vanillin, cedar, and spice. Dense and medium to full-bodied, with softer tannin and mor...
The 1996 Leoville Barton appears more youthful than the 1996 Langoa Barton in the glass with a healthy deep garnet core. The aromatics unfurl gracefully in the glass revealing briary, wild hedgerow, black truffle and sandalwood scents -- firmly in seconda...
Believe it or not, the 1990 Leoville Barton can actually be drunk - something that cannot be said about the broodingly backward, still excruciatingly tannic 1982. The exceptionally concentrated 1990 reveals more polished, sweeter tannins along with a big,...