TASTING NOTE'S:
This boldly tannic wine has a firm structure that gives it an excellent potential. That’s because the great blackberry fruits are just as important, offering a ripe, juicy character that is already succulent and delicious. Drink this wine from 2024.
-Wine Enthusiast, 96 pts
The deep, inky-colored 2017 Léoville-Barton is a classic, powerhouse wine from this estate that’s going to need bottle age. Loads of black and blue fruits, violets, classy oak, and ample minerality all soar from the glass. It’s medium to full-bodied, concentrated, and backward on the palate. With fabulous purity and integrated acidity, forget bottles for 5-6 years and enjoy over the following two decades. The blend in 2017 is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Merlot, harvested from the 15th to the 29th of September, and aging in 60% new French oak.
-Jeb Dunnuck, 96 pts
The purity of cabernet sauvignon really comes through here with currants, blackberries and stones. Perfumed, too. Medium to full body. Very fine, polished tannins and a fresh, fruity finish. This shows a compact palate with a polished, creamy finish. Much higher percentage of cabernet than is usual. Drink after 2023.
-James Suckling, 95 pts
Packed with ripe, lively plum, blackberry and black currant fruit, backed by melted black licorice and bramble accents throughout, this retains a sense of polish despite the energetic fruit and structure. Ends with an encore of warm plum reduction. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2023 through 2037.
-Wine Spectator, 95 pts
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Leoville Barton charges out of the gate with bold notions of baked plums, creme de cassis and blueberry preserves plus wafts of pencil shavings, fragrant earth and cedar chest. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating black fruit preserves with compelling herbal sparks and a firm, grainy texture, finishing long and lively.
-Robert Parker, 95 pts
WINEMAKER'S NOTE:
Intense purple color with a bright nose of blackfruit, graphite and toast. On the palate, the attack is frank and the tannins are precise and remarkably delicate. The wine develops a beautiful tension and freshness.
