WTN: 1999 Leoville Barton

[Jenise]

1999 Leoville Barton, St. Julien, Bordeaux
Deep garnet color; Sweet nose with a little raisiny dried fruit and just a drop of barnyard. Ripe red and black fruit with cassis at the forefront, and a bit of fruitcake spiciness suggesting orange peel and Indonesian cigarettes. Lacks the structure of a bigger year like 00 or 01, but it's an attractively medium weight wine with nice balance weighted slightly more toward a cranberry-like acidity than fruit, and great with food--probably what prompted me to gush, "I could drink this wine every day!" It was a great match with braised lamb shanks. I'd say it's getting darned close to it's maturity plateau right now, but it could open up a bit more.

Great note, thanks Jenise! I picked up a few bottles of the '99 LB a few months back and while I plan to hold them a few more years, it is good to know that if I change my mind, the wine is in a good drinking window even sooner.

-Michael

Jenise, Thanks for the tasting note. L-B has produced one of my favorite estate wines for both value and flavor since the '82.

You really hit it on the head for me when you turned the phrase for this bottle about the acidity-to-fruit balance. I often see that same that fruit/acidity profile as a regular feature from them, though I hadn't realized it was so - until reading your note. The leaness was hard for me to describe but easy for me to enjoy. I'll have to open a '99 soon to do some "early enjoyment". There's not been very many L-B youngsters I've wanted to risk opening before the tenth birthday. Thanks.

By coincidence we will be having this wine next week in our Wine Wars challenge - 4 vintages each of Langoa Barton and the same 4 vintages of Lèoville-Barton (served blind as usual).
But the subtext is that we have the Parker and Speculator scores for each wine - so we're also judging whether their scores are even useful!
Any locals (Toronto) may be interested.

http://www.winetasters.ca/Tastings/2008-09/winewars.pdf

Jenise,

I might try a 1999 LB this weekend with our lamb, since you feel it has reached maturity. I will really attempt to get it this time. Or, do you recommend that I wait a month or so, since I will have to lug it for an hour in the car to get it to the lake?

Last weekend, I was alone at camp and drank a bottle of 2001 Clos de Jocobins while looking at the shimmering lake and listening to The Liszt Sonata in B minor. It was like starting wine appreciation all over again. The particular wine is very subtle and when Lynn and I drink it together it seems dull. I think because we are talking and thinking about other things. But fully concentrating on it made all the difference. It was delightful. I appreciated that possibly the best wines are those which involve this sort of participation, even intellectualization. Maybe the LB is this sort of wine. I will see if I can get Lynn to quietly concentrate on it with me to see what happens.

Covert

thanks for the notes, I 've got one tucked aside ready for drinking!

I wish you'd stop burning up your Friday lunch wines during the week.....

thanks for note. I only have a couple, and was aiming more for 2010-2016 just based on release tasting; maybe should move up.