Tasting selected vintages of St. Julien's Chateau Léoville Barton

The three current Léoville estates had a common beginning back in 1638 when Jean de Moytie founded a vineyard on a Medoc gravel ridge and named it Mont Moytie. This estate, along with Margaux and Latour, was the earliest wine producer in the region and remained a unit until the period 1826 to 1844 when it was split into three separate entities. The chart below details the history of the estate up until its dismemberment.

The Barton family can trace its Bordeaux roots back to 1722 when it entered the arena as negociants. Its foray into winemaking began with the 1745 purchase of Chateau Le Boscq. In 1826, as shown in the chart above, the family purchased the now Léoville Barton vines, the first step in the dismemberment of the Moytie estate.

A cellar did not come with the Léoville purchase so the decision was taken to vinify the grapes at Langoa Barton, a Barton property proximate to the purchased vines. That practice is still in place today with the chateau displayed on the Leoville Barton label actually being the Langoa Barton chateau. The family has now owned and controlled these vineyards and wines for well nigh 200 years. 

Anthony Barton, who succeeded Ronald Barton, became a crusader for fair pricing to the consumer, a position which has "earned the brand a strong and loyal fanbase."

Léoville Barton is a St. Julien estate. Saint Julien, being south of Pauillac, is slightly warmer but still subject to similar climate-modification effects (see chart below). The soil is similarly gravelly but has less clay and limestone.

The vineyard rests on 51 ha of deep gravel on clay soils supporting the Cabernet Sauvignon (74%), Merlot (23%), and Cabernet Franc (3%) vines. Average vine age is 38 years and planting density is 9000 vines/ha. The vineyard is mostly organic.

As regards winemaking, the hand-harvested grapes are destemmed, sorted, and crushed prior to being gravity-fed into 200-hl wooden vats for fermentation. The must is co-inoculated to allow almost-simultaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The fermented wine is aged in 60% new French oak for 20 months, with barrel top-ups three times per week. Racking is done using the l'esquive method.

According to thewinecellarinsider.com, "Léoville Barton is a sturdy, structured Bordeaux wine with tannin that requires time to develop. Traditional, masculine and beefy in style, this property is popular with some collectors because of the reasonable prices the estate charged for their wines. Due to the high tannin levels and style of the wine, the best vintages often require decades of age before drinking well."

Tasting selected vintages of Léoville Barton

The Orlando Tasting Group convened on June 7th to taste selected vintages of this estate's wines. The table below indicates the vintages tasted and, where available, the varietal composition. The table reveals the wine as primarily a Cab-Merlot blend with limited Cabernet Franc contribution. The wines were flighted by decade, youngest to oldest.

Year	Cabernet Sauvignon (%)	Merlot (%)	Cabernet Franc (%)
2005	73.5	26	0.5
2004	75	23	2
2003	69	27	4
2000	74	24	2
1998	72	20	8
1996	72	20	8
1995	78	19	3
1993
1990	70	25	5
1982	72	20	8
1976
1975

Flight 1: The 2000s

2005 Chateau Léoville Barton

Beautiful nose of coal, tar, cassis, and chocolate. Broad on the palate with coal tar, blackpepper, and minerality. High acidity. Still not open; needs more time.

2004 Chateau Léoville Barton

Dark red fruit, baking spices, licorice, leather, tobacco, and bay leaf on the nose. Red and dark cherries on the palate. Silky, with a lengthy finish.

2003 Chateau Léoville Barton

Dark fruit, cigar box, cremé de cassis, and graphite on the nose. Expressive on the palate. Medium-bodied. Sweet currants, plum and minerality. Elegant and balanced. This was eventually adjudged the wine of the flight.

2000 Chateau Léoville Barton

Aromatic. Pauillac nose along with baking spices and a savory character. Persistent, thick, rich, and concentrated on the palate. Long, drying finish.

Flight 2: The 1990s

1998 Chateau Léoville Barton

Conditions were very good for this vintage with early bud break and flowering with a hot, dry August favoring good ripening. This particular bottle had issues. Granny's attic and acetic acid on the nose. Dead on the palate.

1996 Chateau Léoville Barton

Mature Bordeaux on the nose with graphite, blue fruit, cassis and leather. Nose carries through to the palate. Silky tannins.

1995 Chateau Léoville Barton

Dark fruit along with sage, earth, cedar, and leather on the nose. Smooth tannins and a lengthy finish. Wine of the flight.

1993 Chateau Léoville Barton

Berries, cassis, graphite, cigar box, cedar on the nose. Medium-bodied. Smooth and balanced with a long finish.

1990 Chateau Léoville Barton

Uninspiring nose but great on the palate. Rich and savory with spicy dark fruit. Excellent finish. Delicious.

Flight 3: The 1980s

1982 Chateau Léoville Barton

Red/black fruit, tobacco, leather, graphite on the nose. Sweet black fruit, leather and iron on the palate. Great length on the finish. A great year overall for Bordeaux and this estate did not miss the boat. Obviously wine of the flight but also picked as wine of the night.

Flight 4: The 1970s

1976 Chateau Léoville Barton

Forest floor, leather, tea, coffee, and tobacco on the nose. Earth and tea on the palate. Age is showing. Adjudged wine of the flight. 

1975 Chateau Léoville Barton

Red fruit, cedar, cassis, leather, and earth on the nose. Red fruit and spice on the palate. Textured. Long finish.

Next up in our tasting series is Chateau Leoville Poyferre.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

King Family Vineyards (Crozet, Virginia): The wines

After an extensive discussion of King Family Vineyards, James and I turned to tasting the wines. Like many producers in emerging regions, King Family Vineyards has a broad portfolio of wines on offer, categorized as follows: Sparkling, White, Red, Rosé, Mountain Plains, Meritage, and Small Batch Series. We tasted wines from each of these categories.

Matthieu is the Winemaker and has held that position for the last 18 years. According to James, Matthieu has complete autonomy over wine direction and production.

Sparkling

We tasted a 2021 Bland de Blanc, a traditional-method sparkling wine the base of which was fermented in stainless steel tanks. Extended sur lie aging. Yeastiness and mint on the nose. Round on the palate with good fruit and acid levels. Sapid. Long, metallic finish.

White

We next turned to the 2022 Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit for this wine is sourced from Childs Family. Aromatic. A sense of weight on the nose but actually light on the palate. Perfumed on the palate. White fruit. Metallic, drying finish.

The 2023 Viognier was not consistent in the vineyard as regards yield. This variety can be very finicky. The wine was fermented in three separate vessel types and aged in stainless steel, neutral French oak, acacia, and concrete prior to blending and bottling. The varietal mix on the wine is 80% Viognier and 20% Chardonnay. The wine is aromatic, but not in a traditional Viognier way. Heavyweight. Thick and rich with some spiciness.

The 2022 Chardonnay underwent full malolactic fermentation then aging on the lees for 9 months with weekly batonnage. Aging was hosted in French oak barrels (25% new; 25% 1 year; 25% 2 year; and 25% 3 year). Unyielding on the nose initially then pear and baking spice aromas emerged. Barrel influence apparent on the palate.

Mountain Plains is a premium label in the King Family Vineyards stable. The 2022 version is a blend of the top selections from the best barrels of Chardonnay, Viognier, and Petit Manseng. Beeswax and slightly honeyed nose. Weighty on the palate with ripe fruit and spice, the latter increasing in intensity with residence in the glass. Full-bodied. Juicy. Cupric.

Petit Manseng is the latest variety to wear the mantle of Great Virginia Hope and King Family Vineyards has an offering in this space. The 2023 Petit Manseng shows sweet white fruit on the nose and palate. Rich and creamy initially, giving way to a dry, mineral palate.

Rosés

Crosé is a dry, Merlot-based Rosé whose moniker is a play on the name -- Crozet -- of the small town in which the estate is located. The color of this wine is the result of limited skin contact. The 2024 exhibited sweet strawberry on the nose and palate. Discordant palate.

The 2023 Mountain Plains Rosé is made from early-picked Petit Verdot. Skin contact evident. Underripe fruit. Varietal weightiness.

Reds

The Cabernet Franc 2023 was aged for 9 months in a combination of concrete and French oak. Violets and hints of bell pepper on the nose. Firm on the attack  but mid-palate issues. Rose petals and spice on the palate along with a slight sweetness. Medium weight with a medium-length finish. 

The Les Petits 2022 is a blend of Petit Verdot and Petit Manseng (the Petits; get it?) and was one of the estate's Small Batch offerings. Mint and red and blue fruit on the nose, along with a waxy pungency. This wine fully engages the palate. Spicy red fruit and bell pepper flavors. Pleasant.

The 2022 Merlot was aged for 16 months in neutral and new French oak barrels. Elegant on the nose  with aromas of baking spices, chocolate, tobacco, and coal. Unfocused ripe dark fruit on the palate. Rich chocolate and spice. Persistent.

The Meritage is the estate's "flagship Bordeaux-style red blend," constructed, as it is, with an eye towards extended bottle aging. The components are Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. I tasted the 2022 and 2021 vintages.

The 2022 exhibited thick, rich, ripe dark fruit along with chocolate and spice. Persistent and mineral. The 2021 showed violets, spice, chocolate, and a green note on the nose. Red fruit on the palate and a little thin on the finish. More elegance exhibited here than in the 2022.

Grapes for the 2022 Mountain Plains Red were hand selected and destemmed before a 4- to 8-week maceration in open-top concrete fermentation tanks. After pressing, the wines were aged for 22 months in new French oak barrels. Red and black fruits and violets on the nose. Ripe fruit on the palate. Structured. 

The 2022 Petit Verdot was aged for 21 months in French oak barrels. Intense violet notes on the nose. Lands beautifully on the palate. Rich, with a lengthy finish.

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Matthieu was out of the country when I visited the estate so i did not have an opportunity to gain his insights into his winemaking philosophy, practices, and plans for the future. I hope to address this shortcoming in the not-too-distant future.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

King Family Vineyards: The founding and vineyard characteristics of a Virginia Wine stalwart

King Family Vineyards is a stalwart of the Virginia Wine industry, one which, unfortunately, I have not previously had the opportunity to engage with in a meaningful way.That problem was rectified when Frank Morgan (Mr. VA Wine) arranged for me to sit with James King to discuss the winery and its wines. 

David and Ellen King (James' parents) moved from Houston, Texas to Charlottesville (VA) in 1995 and purchased a 327-acre farm therein. David was a Polo lover and while that was one of the driving forces behind the purchase of the property, the farm also grew alfalfa and corn.

In the Fall of 1997, one Tom Vandenberg knocked on the farmhouse door and asked to lease 10 acres of the property for the purpose of growing wine grapes. In the course of the discussion he indicated that the property appeared well-suited to that purpose. David's interest was piqued so he read a few books and then engaged a vineyard consultant. Six months later they planted 8 acres of vines.

The initial thought was to sell the fruit but they decided to hold some back for wine production. They made 480 cases in 2000 and 1050 cases in 2001. Michael Shaps (Shaps Wineworks)  was the winemaker and the wine was made in space leased from Afton. They were so pleased with the wine that they decided to build a production facility onsite. The winery was brought online in October of 2002. Michael continued in the winemaker role until he was succeeded in 2006 by Matthieu Finot.

The winery built in 2002 had a 5000-bottle capacity. A new facility with 28,000-bottle capacity was brought on line in 2013.

Let us take a step back and examine the physical environment in which the estate operates. 

Physical Environment

First, the farm has expanded from the original 324 acres to 430 acres with the acquisition of the property across the street. The area under vine has also seen an increase: from 8 acres to 55 acres currently. All of the King Family Vineyards land falls within the bounds of the Monticello AVA.

The climate is hot, wet, and humid with potential for frost in the spring (The area is frost-free in May.). Frost-mitigation/prevention techniques utilized by the estate include wind machines  and flying helicopters over the vineyard to push warm air downward.

The area is experiencing greater frequency of drought with the onset of climate change; two within the past decade.

Sols are dyke-loam with a "thin surface layer of granular loam (composed of sand, silt, and clay) covering a deep bed of dense, iron-rich clay ... these soils encourage downward root growth and retain enough water to avoid the need for irrigation in all but the driest of years."

Built Environment

The 55 acres of the farm under vine is distributed between Merlot, Viognier, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Petit Manseng and Malbec varieties. The distribution of the varieties across the estate's five vineyards are illustrated in the charts below; as are the planting dates, rootstock, clonal selection, and vine-training methods.

Farming Practices

The vineyards are farmed traditionally but sustainability is a key focus of the enterprise. Cover crops, for example, are employed to both promote competition and to aid in the improvement of soil health. Working with the Army Corps of Engineers, the estate has restored the wetlands habitat on the farm, establishing the area as a "bird-watching hotspot." All activities on the farm are done by hand.

The farm is subject to the presence of insects, pests, and diseases and sprays about 24 times per year to combat same.

When necessary, irrigation needs are met from a 7-acre farm pond.

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I will discuss the tasting of the King Family Vineyard wines in a subsequent post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme