TN: 1999 Leoville Barton

[JCNorthway]

OK, this is why I like Bordeaux wines!

I opened the first couple of bottles of my 6-pack in early 2007. My notes suggested it was good but I should wait a couple more years; and I am really glad that I did. This bottle was opened on Saturday to go with a bone-in ribeye steak on the grill. I started to pour after only 30 minutes, but this wine was surprisingly ready to please. The best way I can describe the wine on this night is "perfectly balanced." There was nothing individually spectacular about it; it was just really pleasurable without being showy in any way. Lovely fruit and earth nose. The palate provided great depth of dark fruits with complimentary tannins, minerality and acidity. Usually you can point to something and wish the wine had more or less of it. I could not criticize this wine on any front. Having said that, it is not a 95+ point wine because it did not have the power or concentration most look for in the top level wines. But I would give this bottle 92-93 points. I think RP rated it 88 points, but tonight it was considerably better than that. I don't know that it will get any better, but it certainly is nowhere near decline.

Tonight (2 days later) I finished off the bottle. It was still really enjoyable, not having tired in the bottle kept at room temperature. That tells me it has a lot of good years left. I have 3 more bottles that I plan to open over the next 10+ nears.

I would be interested to hear about anyone else's recent experiences with this wine.

Jon

[Houndsong]

I had one three years ago, and was of "two minds" about it. http://bordeauxwine.org/bwe/new/8/119648/. Looks like it's time to have another.

[DavidG]

Jim - why doesn't the "BWE Archive" box link to http://www.bordeauxwine.org/bwe/swish.cgi?

[alchemeus]

I honestly still do not understand this obsession with keeping wines. Drink them when they taste good. Drink them up. If they taste good now drink them up. Screw 'maybe they'll be good a godzillion years from now'.

I mean, who cares.

OK. Speculators. Bane of ManKind.

I've had anywhere from 1st Growths to No Growths at various years from vintage. Yeah, 1st Growths and some second Growths and even some 3rd and lower Growths are better at longer keeps. 1st Growths always best. All...drink them when they taste good. But if even a 1st is pleasure then drink up.

Life is short, enjoy what you have at that moment. No one lives a day longer than they live. You do not know when. Enjoy what you have while you can enjoy it.

If you can enjoy the best then enjoy. Don't think others can do that.

I've buried 4 closest relatives in 5 months. Brother, mother in law, mother, step mother in law.

Sorry to intrude. 'Nuff said.

[DavidG]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Alch. I just lost two colleagues last week, one my age. Does make a strong case for getting the most out of each day and letting all those around us know how much we value them while we have the chance.

I'm fine with drinking wines young, if that's when they give me pleasure. I own plenty of stuff that makes no sense to cellar (at least to me), so I drink it young.

But a good deal of the Bordeaux in my cellar gives me a LOT more pleasure after 10, 15, or 20 years of cellaring. That's why I bought those specific wines. Except for the occasional bottle opened ITNOS, in my cellar they will sit. At least the recent versions from the '90s and the '00s, while I drink the bottles from the '80s. If I kick off before getting to my '05s, I suspect my heirs will find that they were a reasonable investment, but who knows. That's not why I bought them, and I don't think that makes me a speculator. At least not in the sense you're using. I will fess up to speculating that these wines would develop the "magic in the bottle" while I was still around to enjoy them.

I would never criticize someone else for drinking what I consider to be ageable Bordeaux long before I would consider it to be "at peak." If they like 'em young, they should drink 'em young. My "magic in the bottle" might be their "old and decrepit." If they hadn't had the opportunity, I might open an older one for them just to show them what Bdx can become, good or bad. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Peace.

[rjsussex]

Barton 99 is lovely - thanks for the excellent note. I bought 2 cases as my 50th birthday to myself (sigh) and it was very slow to hit its peak but has been on song for a year or so now. One case left.

Also bought the Langoa but that was drunk up some time ago - much more forward and rather funky.

Richard