Château Léoville Barton - Saint-Julien 2003

Wine Advocate

96 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe8/29/2014

A spectacular success, the opaque plum-colored 2003 Leoville Barton is still on the young side of its plateau of maturity. It exhibits a striking bouquet of forest floor and black currants as well as a full-bodied, exuberant, youthful style, an opaque plum/ruby color, a lot of complexity, and striking depth and richness. This is a profound, stunning effort from Anthony Barton and his team. Bravo! It should continue to provide immense pleasure for 20-30 years.

Wine Advocate

95 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/24/2006

One cannot admire enough proprietor Anthony Barton and his classic, potentially long-lived wines that are models of power, elegance, and longevity – in short, these wines symbolize what makes Bordeaux so world-renowned! Probably capable of rivaling the 2000, the uncompromisingly made, formidably powerful, masculine, and highly extracted 2003 has an inky purple color to the rim, a big, deep personality with a tight but promising nose of forest floor, creme de cassis, smoke, charcoal, licorice, and perhaps even truffle. It is layered, rich, and set for an exceptionally long life, but don’t expect to get a lot of joy even in this somewhat overtly styled vintage for at least another 7-8 years. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2030+.

Wine Spectator

98 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe1/31/2006

Intense blackberry and cherry, with hints of currant. Toasted oak and sweet tobacco, too, with roses, lilacs and other flowers. Full-bodied, with masses of tannins yet incredibly long and seductive. Best after 2012.

Wine Advocate

93-95 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/29/2005

This is a stunning inky purple-colored effort revealing a tight but promising bouquet of damp earth, forest floor, powerful ripe cassis and black raspberry notes intermixed with licorice and leather. Formidably-endowed, structured, dense, concentrated, and backward, this brawny 2003 should prove to be one of the vintage’s most enduring successes. It needs to be forgotten for 7-10 years. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2035.