2014 Château Langoa Barton Saint-Julien

Product Description

Few wine dynasties in Bordeaux can match the story of the Bartons. It begins in 1722, when Thomas Barton left his native Ireland for Bordeaux and founded a wine merchant business that still bears the family name today. His grandson Hugh lived through the French Revolution, escaping imprisonment and the guillotine, and returned to rebuild the family fortunes. In 1821 he bought Château Pontet-Langlois in Saint-Julien, seduced by its elegant chartreuse, built in 1758, and its harmonious proportions, and renamed it Langoa Barton. A few years later he added part of the neighbouring Léoville estate, creating Léoville Barton, and the foundations of one of the Médoc’s great family houses were laid.

When the famous 1855 Classification was drawn up, Langoa Barton was ranked a Third Growth. Remarkably, it has remained in the hands of the same family for more than two centuries, which makes it one of the longest continuously family-owned classified growths in Bordeaux. For decades the estate was led by the much-loved Anthony Barton, a charismatic ambassador for Bordeaux, and today his daughter Lilian Barton Sartorius is at the helm, supported by her children Damien and Mélanie, the tenth generation of the family to make wine in Bordeaux.

Langoa’s vineyard lies at the heart of Saint-Julien, on the deep gravels over clay that define the appellation’s finest terroirs. Cabernet Sauvignon leads, supported by Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The grapes are hand-picked and vinified in the château’s historic cellars, where the wines of both Langoa and Léoville Barton have been made side by side ever since Hugh’s day. Indeed, it is Langoa’s handsome façade that appears on the label of its more famous sibling. The wine is then aged for around eighteen months in French oak.

The result is quintessential Saint-Julien, a wine that favours finesse over power. Langoa Barton is harmonious and silky, with ripe blackcurrant and cedar, fine-grained tannins and a classic, refreshing structure, all qualities that allow it to age gracefully for decades. Long admired for offering exceptional quality and consistency at a sensible price, it is a wine steeped in history, crafted by a family that has been perfecting its art in Bordeaux for three centuries.