2022 Chateau Leoville Barton St Julien 0.75lt

This is a really exciting Léoville Barton, one of the best wines of St Julien this year and up there with the best of the Médoc. It is the first from the new cellar; the increased precision and flexibility seem to give more nuance to this wine. Always a delicious and emphatic expression of Cabernet Sauvignon, it now has more vivid perfumes and more suave textures. After a tightly focused bouquet of classic cassis and graphite, the palate is elegantly cinched by fine-grained tannins before blossoming on the finish with mouth-watering spice and tapenade. This is a great effort. 98 POINTS JAMES...