Bordeaux 2021 at Two Years: St Julien
My tastings in Pauillac complete (well, more or less – there is always an element of running back and forth between appellations on these tasting trips) I moved on to St Julien. My first port of call was the estate of Château Léoville-Barton and Château Langoa-Barton, the château and various cellars, which serve both vineyards, sitting either side of the D2, just north of the hamlet of Beychevelle.
I swung my hire car through the gateway on the east side of the road, and we bounced along the coarsely cobbled surface of the courtyard, my head not quite hitting the roof of the car with every oscillation. Not like that time in Michel Chapoutier’s car (yes, that Michel Chapoutier – this was a long time ago) when he floored the accelerator as he drove over a deeply furrowed vineyard, and I was soon airborne within the vehicle, head and roof making very solid contact.
I came to a stop at the end of a line of parked cars, and after making one last check of my schedule (I did once turn up for a visit at the right time, but at entirely the wrong château), and having gathered together my laptop, camera and wits, I headed back across the D2 to the offices and tasting room. Where in I was I was met by the most distinctive bottle of Langoa-Barton I have ever encountered.
Celebratory labels are nothing new in Bordeaux of course, and if anything they have become more common; these days, hardly a vintage goes by without a château in some corner of the region releasing the latest vintage in a gilt-emblazoned bottle to commemorate ten or twenty years of something or other. So kudos to the Barton family, who have chosen to mark the passing of an impressive 200 years in residence at Château Langoa-Barton with this rather colourful etiquette.
