WTN: 2004 Leoville Barton

Last night we grilled a huge (3") ribeye as well as some corn, accompanied by a watercress salad. Wine was the 2004 Ch. Leoville-Barton (St. Julien). Surprisingly open from the git-go (is that a real word?). Matt R. and David B. nailed it with this one. Rich, fleshy, ripe but with an acidic backbone. Tannins are fine and ripe. Mostly cassis fruit, with a note of sweet licorice. Some graphite on the finish. Lovely Medoc with lots of potential, I need to cellar my remaining ones, but wow it's lovely now. Maybe I should get more. I saved one glass for several hours later, still showing fresh and structured,with some mocha notes. Best 2004 Bdx I've tried. A-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency

Thanks for the TN Dale.
I can't wait for the cool-weather delivery of my 2004 LBs. This producer is a staple for me at every vintage, well, at least since 1996.

I'm still waiting, too, on my delivery of this.. but one of the local stores has 375s, so I think I will pop in and get some...to at least try one now....I love L-B...and this sounds terrific already...

I'm still waiting, too, on my delivery of this.. but one of the local stores has 375s, so I think I will pop in and get some...to at least try one now....I love L-B...and this sounds terrific already...

it certainly needs time,but tasty now. My guess is it will shut down soon

I was also very surprised at the openness of this wine. Not typical of Leo Barton as I understand it. This is the qpr of the vintage in my book.

...optimal drinking window?

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but typically it would shut down in the next year or less and emerge again in...I don't know...8-10 years. Then drink well for another 15 plus. This wine seems a little atypical to me, however.

I'm looking forward to our 2004 horizontal offline to try this against some of it's peers.

Thanks, Matt.

It's just that both yours and Dale's notes indicated very accessible LBs at this early stage and, imho, this is not as evident with those other vintages that I've had the opportunity to taste when close to their release dates. Hence, I'm curious about your take on where this particular LB vintage is headed to in the future.

I, too, look forward to the 2004 horizontal.

Ramon

RC-

Well, your guess is as good as mine, because this hasn't tasted like the few LB's I've had on release. It is very high quality, however.

I thought the 2001 and 2003 were similarly approachable after release. In general I'd say Matt drink now, or in 10+ is best window (again, guessing).