I bought this as a future after liking it en primeur, and as a local restaurant had this, I drank this for a couple of years when it came stateside. And then it shut down. Complete shutdown, like a wine black hole, allowing nothing to emerge.
Now twenty five years old, it is opening up again. Not totally there yet, and still a few years ahead of full maturity, it is finally giving pleasure. Really fine young claret nose, good acidity, and a nice finish. Very pleasant, with plenty of upside.
Nice, glad I have a lot of this put away.
I had the 90 LB on Friday that blew away expectations- It was served blind and I sincerely thought it might’ve been a first growth. It showed better than a 90 Mouton from the same cellar. Depth and richness, a little sweet fig note, just great. Would love to source some 96s. Thankfully Leoville Barton has a relatively high production and the wines aren’t too coveted, but man are they archetypal and I’ll never complain about too many in the cellar.
Thanks. Data point serves well with a few left at the offsite stash from my at release purchases, too.
My experiences so far, many 96s Left Bank fell and are still in that friggin’ cosmic hole…
Although not regarded as being in the same league, I had a 96 Talbot this summer that was unusually amazing, perhaps the last/best bottle from a case and a half over the years. And a 96 Langoa Barton maybe a year or two ago was not that far off the pace.
St Julien that year needed some patience!
I hosted a tasting of 10 different 1996 northern medocs last week with our Chaîne / Mondiale, and the Leoville Barton was definitely in the top 3; right up there with Pichon Baron and Montrose. Will post notes over the thanksgiving holiday, but for my taste (double decanted 3 hours in advance) the 1996’s from the northern medoc are showing wonderfully and have opened up considerably over the last five years or so.
Had this one about a decade ago; thought it was excellent and needed another 5 to 10 years to hit peak — sounds like it took a bit longer than that, but not surprised it got there eventually. Thanks for posting, Mark.
I bought three of these on your recommendation, nice to see Mark’s note as well. I had one about a year and a half ago that was lovely. They come in next week.
From my perspective and experience the 90s are for Bordeaux big disappointment period including 1995 & 1996 compare to XXI quality which can be achived in Bordeaux (2009,2010,205,2016).
The only exeption in this decade are 1990 ( all the board Medoc and Right Bank) and 1998 for merlots ( Pessac, St. Emilion, Pomerol) . Both 1990 and merlot based 1998 I consider as the greatest vintages from which I had privilage to drink Bordeaux wines.
I don’t actually agree with this, but this is entirely to do with taste. You will find many who agree with you on this board, and many who don’t.
Thnx for the note, I have 3 bottles left out a 6 pack. I have found it to be reasonably open in the past couple of years. It is a birth year wine for the older son, he has a couple in his stash.
Brodie
Yea I’d generally take 95, 96 and 98 over 09, 10 and 15. With many wines, not even close.
I’m going to have to agree with this. I have 95s, 96s and 98s, but none of the rest. 
I barely have any 09s or 15s. I did load up on 14 and think 16 is excellent.
I have a pretty good amount of Barton from every recent vintage; it’s probably 50% of my bdx holdings. Wish I had more 01 though.
I think 96 Barton, 00 calon, and 19 Barton and calon are my biggest holdings.
Was his recommendation three cases or three pallets?
If you have to ask……
I popped one of these with Alfert at Ruth Chris 6mos. back…it was killing…all the classic bordeaux notes.
Thanks for the info, I’ve only two of the 96 so I’ll hold off a little longer… meanwhile, the 02 Leoville Barton is in the zone and drinking great.
Yeah. For me, the question has long been could the 95s, 96s, 98s RB and the 00s ever live up to the glories of 82-90 era, not more recent vintages. For my palate, I’m confident I’ll like the 95-00 run much more than the 09-Present run, but that’s just me (contemporary wine making usually leaves me cold).
For the most part, 95-00 still need time to round into form and as such have been disappointing to date vis-à-vis the 80’s, most of which were drinking super well by age 20 (even the top 86s were glorious at age 22). The 95s and 96s are now 25-26 years old and aren’t (even close to?) fully mature for my preferences.