Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc, the 2023 Château Langoa Barton spent 18 months in 60% new French oak before bottling. Cassis, graphite, spring flowers, and liquid minerality all shine here, and it's rich, medium to full-bodied, with a round, layered mouthfeel, just about flawless balance, and a gorgeous finish. It's the finest vintage of this I've tasted, so hats off to the estate’s team.
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James Suckling
Fresh and juicy, showing precise cherries, berries, minerals and licorice. Good midpalate tension, with medium to full body and a pristine finish. Not a dense vintage, but there is a lot to like here, particularly if you enjoy Bordeaux with brightness, elegance and finesse. Quite long and taut too. A blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 37% merlot and 3% cabernet franc.
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Wine Enthusiast
An impressive tannic wine with ripeness balanced by a core of dry structure. This is a delicious wine, initially firm and tense giving it fine potential.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Notes of cassis, dark berries and cherries mingled with hints of pencil shavings introduce the 2023 Langoa Barton, a medium- to full-bodied, layered and fleshy wine with terrific depth at the core and classic structure rendered with contemporary polish. As readers will remember, the Barton family's new winery now permits for more precise, parcel-by-parcel winemaking as well as gentler handling of the fruit. It's a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Rating: 94+
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Decanter
While the nose lacks the éclat of a recent run of excellent vintages here, with a more downbeat expression, there is no denying the classy expression of the Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up 60% of the blend. There is poise in an expression not only of cassis but floral rose. Furthermore, the wine has a solid tannic edge, which will be tamed during the barrel ageing at 60% new oak, which also should broaden the palate. All this augurs well for cellaring. I also like the alcohol and acidity balance, and while the barrel sample lacks the depth of a superior vintage like 2020 - tasted on two occasions - it shows refinement reflecting St-Julien. Potential for a higher score in bottle.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Vinous
The 2023 Langoa Barton is packed with dark red cherry, plum, spice, cedar and tobacco. Over the last few years, an updated style of vinification in a new cellar has yielded a bit more mid-palate sweetness, pliancy and resonance than in the past. It will be interesting to see where this goes, but clearly, we have entered into an era of Langoa. Tasted two times. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
While I have tasted many vintages of Château Langoa Barton, few have left a lasting imprint—until the 2023. This vintage struck me as juicy and immediately engaging, redolent with pure fruit. Bright red and black fruits lead the profile, accented by a gentle touch of oak that adds polish without distraction. The wine’s freshness and balance make it especially food-friendly. Pair it with a traditional Saint-Julien pork dish such as slow-roasted pork shoulder with shallots, thyme, and a light red-wine pan sauce, where the savory herbs and gentle richness echo the wine’s fruit and structure. (Tasted: January 22, 2026, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
A juicy red, with brambly grip that carries its lively flavors of red and black currant paste. Mesquite and apple wood lace up the finish. Youthfully edgy but modest in scale, so this is approachable. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An icon of balance and tradition, St. Julien boasts the highest proportion of classed growths in the Médoc. What it lacks in any first growths, it makes up in the rest: five amazing second growth chateaux, two superb third growths and four well-reputed fourth growths. While the actual class rankings set in 1855 (first, second, and so on the fifth) today do not necessarily indicate a score of quality, the classification system is important to understand in the context of Bordeaux history. Today rivalry among the classed chateaux only serves to elevate the appellation overall.
One of its best historically, the estate of Leoville, was the largest in the Médoc in the 18th century, before it was divided into the three second growths known today as Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases, Léoville-Poyferré and Léoville-Barton. Located in the north section, these are stone’s throw from Chateau Latour in Pauillac and share much in common with that well-esteemed estate.
The relatively homogeneous gravelly and rocky top soil on top of clay-limestone subsoil is broken only by a narrow strip of bank on either side of the “jalle,” or stream, that bisects the zone and flows into the Gironde.
St. Julien wines are for those wanting subtlety, balance and consistency in their Bordeaux. Rewarding and persistent, the best among these Bordeaux Blends are full of blueberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco and licorice. They are intense and complex and finish with fine, velvety tannins.