This is a great success for the year a wine that is dense characterized by balance between sweet fruit and solid tannins. Spice from the finely judged wood aging adds extra complexity as do the plum and berry fruits. For aging. - R.V.

Tasted at BI Wine & Spirits' 10-Years-On tasting, the 2007 Leoville-Barton is more vigorous and fruit-driven than the Langoa, with gorgeous dark berry fruit, wilted rose petals and orange blossom scents that really blossom in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a sensual, quite rounded opening that belies the structure of this Leoville Barton, armed with black pepper and cedar towards the long finish. This is a Saint Julien that has always threatened to come good and at ten years of age, and it is beginning to take flight. A couple of cases of this in your cellar and you cannot go wrong. Tasted February 2017. - Neal Martin

70% Cabernet Sauvignon 27% Merlot 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. Medium ruby core with a fuchsia rim. Cinnamon spicy plum cassis and black cherry aromas with a hint of earth. Light entry with a soft black fruit mid-palate. The tannins build yet stay very soft and elegant. Good length on the finish.

Tasted blind at the 2007 Bordeaux horizontal in Southwold. There is a touch of wet sand on the nose of this Saint Julien, crisp blackberry and boysenberry, lovely earthy and cedar wood notes underneath. The palate has a ripe entry with grainy tannins and good acidity. There is a nice prickle on the tongue here with fine definition towards the finish. Short but well crafted.