2009 Château Langoa Barton, St Julien, Bordeaux

A rich and fleshy wine, yet it remains decisively dry. The attractive blueberry aroma and impressive supple tannins make this very harmonious. If it was slightly brighter in the nose, this would rate even higher. 

Drink now

Very dark blackish crimson. Very concentrated, opulent nose. No ersatz sweetness, but very well-managed tannins and classic style. Bone dry and set for the long term. Classical texture.

Drink 2018 - 2032

Tar, cloves, and girolle mushrooms, with intense black fruits that are met by fresher red fruits, ensuring nothing is too overpowering. This is a great vintage at Langoa; it has the intensity that will please the crowds but the delicacy and St Julien finesse that make it true to itself. First-year for technical director François Brehant. 70% new oak.

Drink 2022 - 2040

The medium to deep garnet-colored 2009 Langoa Barton is scented of warm red and black plums, dried mulberries and blackcurrant cordial with touches of dried mint and new leather. Medium to full-bodied with a solid frame of grainy tannins and bold freshness, it has loads of red and black berry preserves layers on the long, savoury finish.

Drink 2019 - 2034

The 2009 Langoa-Barton has a gorgeous bouquet with blackberry, bilberry, cedar and light tobacco aromas that blossom from the glass. This feels so composed and pure. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine-grain tannin, beautifully judged acidity and a svelte, languorous finish that fans out with style. What a gorgeous and utterly seductive Saint-Julien. It turns out to be Langoa Barton, a wine that I have rated very highly in the past.

Drink 2022 - 2045

Backward, tannic and beefy, this youthful but formidable 2009 Langoa Barton exhibits a dense ruby/purple colour as well as lots of damp earth, underbrush and black currant aromas and flavours, medium to full body, lively acids and, not surprisingly, massive tannins a characteristic of all the Barton wines). The overall impression is somewhat incongruous, having a certain precociousness in the aromatics but then clamping down on the taster in the mouth. I recommend waiting 5-7 years before opening a bottle. It should drink well over the following 20-25 years.

Drink 2017 - 2042

Full, deep ruby. Deep, explosive aromas of cassis, plum, blackberry, dark chocolate, violet and sexy oak. Dense, pliant and deep, with a distinctly chewy texture to its sweet cassis and dark chocolate flavours. It is a very fine-grained wine with a long, rising, sweet finish featuring smooth, thoroughly ripe tannins.