Bordeaux 2011 Primeurs: The Léoville Estates
Although there are other successful wines here in the commune of St Julien in this vintage, two of which I have discussed in a little detail, my attention now turns towards the three descendants of the original Léoville estate, all of which showed quite differently during these primeur tastings.
Léoville-Barton
First and foremost comes Léoville-Barton, for me the superior of the three this year. Whereas some wines of the commune displayed rather exotic black cherry flavours and an seductive, creamy, New-World-style flesh, Léoville-Barton remained restrained, elegant, polished and classically styled. Cast your mind back to my Pauillac 2011 report, and the words of Christian Seely: those winemakers who extracted too hard “have missed the personality of the year.” It is a vintage for achieving balance first, and worrying about everything else next.
This would seem to describe the result at Léoville-Barton quite nicely, as it is a wine that displays an effortless harmony. And yet, unlike Gruaud-Larose which achieved something similar but with a rather leaner, stony feel to the fruit expression, the Léoville displayed no lack of substance, and underneath this the tannins were full and convincing, but with a nicely polished character which stayed entirely enveloped by the fruit and flesh of the wine. This feeling of composure, rather than of force, is key to picking out the best wines this year I feel. The more robustly tannic wines will age well, and if the fruit outlives the tannins they may well give great pleasure two decades from now, but I do not think they will ever display the finesse like that which the 2011 Léoville-Barton seems capable of. This is a very strong effort, and the oft-reliable Langoa-Barton perhaps unsurprisingly displayed the same style and polish. These two are both admirable wines.
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