Château Leoville-Barton

The history of Château Léoville Barton is the history of a family who have managed to preserve their inheritance for more than two centuries. From one generation to another the wines produced by this property have maintained the quality of their classification, offering wines at the very top of their appellation.

 Thomas Barton had been brought up in Curraghmore, Co. Fermanagh and left his native    Ireland in 1722 at the age of 27 years old.

He worked with his maternal uncles Thomas and William Dickson who had considerable trade in France. It was in this connection that Thomas was sent to France, first to Montpellier, then to Marseille. He was not therefore pre-destined to be a wine merchant but when in 1725 he went to Bordeaux with its importance as an Atlantic port, Thomas became interested in wine and soon founded his first company which was later to become Barton & Guestier.

He rapidly created a financially successful business with a regular clientele in Ireland. He was a man of great authority, firm but honest in his transactions ; by 1737 he had already made a small fortune and was well respected in Bordeaux where he became known as “French Tom”. In 1743 he introduced his son William to the business but William was a man of very different calibre to his father and their relations were never of the best.

At this time the French law known as ‘Le Droit d’Aubaine’ stipulated that estates of any foreigner dying in France would revert to the French Crown. Although Thomas had applied for French citizenship, this was not in fact granted until after his death. For this reason he never bought any vineyards in France preferring to invest his considerable profits in property in Ireland.

He did rent an attractive home in the Médoc, Château Le Boscq in Saint-Estèphe, but it was his grandson Hugh who became the first member of the family to actually own a vineyard. Thomas died in 1780 aged 85.

His grandson Hugh increased the value of the business and accumulated a considerable fortune. In 1821 he purchased Château Langoa and in 1826 part of the Léoville estate. In addition he built Straffan House in Ireland, which was to become the family home for three generations. It was Ronald, born in London in 1902 who was again to contribute effectively to the family affairs in France. It was also he who maintained the vineyards during the difficult years between the two world wars.

Anthony came to France in 1951 and in 1983 he became proprietor of the vineyards. Proud of the long family connection with the Bordeaux wine trade, he continues with his daughter Lilian the Barton tradition. Their mutual ambition is to maintain and improve the prestige of the wines of Léoville and Langoa Barton. The meaning of the word "terroir" includes several elements such as soil, climate, topology and geology. In this respect the terroir of Saint-Julien is acknowledged as one of the best in the world for wine production. Château Léoville Barton is situated in the heart of this prestigious appellation.

Soil: gravel and clay Production area: 45 ha Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc

The word ‘Terroir’ means a lot more than just “soil” which is however its primary significance, but it does also include notions of climate, topology and geology. Although some wine producers particularly in the New World tend to discount ‘Terroir’ as an important factor in the quality of a wine, the vineyards of Langoa and Léoville Barton have no other explanation for the differences in character of the two wines.

These can only be explained by differences of ‘Terroir’ since other important factors such as grape varieties , vine culture and wine making are virtually the same on both proprieties. It is also interesting to note that the analyses of the wines show little variation in terms of alcohol, acidity, tannin etc., yet the two wines do have their own personality and show distinctive contrasts in bouquet and palate. The soil of both vineyards is basically gravelly with clay sub-soil ; the depth at which the clay is to be found and other soil characteristics vary from one part of the vineyard to another making it even more difficult to define exactly what are the major differences in the two vineyards.

Another important factor in the make-up of these vineyards is the drainage: if considerable progress has been made recently in some sectors of wine making, the art of good drainage was well understood and applied by previous generations. To produce good wine, vines do not require rich fertile soil as this would produce big berries with a high ratio of juice to skins, whereas the opposite is the ideal. For the same reason an excess of rainfall is not desirable for making high quality wine and what rain there is must be allowed to drain off rapidly.

At the time of the 1855 classification, Leoville Barton, second Grand Cru and Langoa Barton, 3rd Grand Cru in Saint-Julien, were already owned by the Barton family. They share with only Mouton-Rothschild’s owners, the privilege of a long family continuity.

The 1855 Classification was created to present the most famous Bordeaux wines at the Paris Universal exhibition. The responsibility for drawing it up was given by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce to the "Bordeaux Trade Brokers". The idea was to establish a classification based on many years of trade experience, which was the recognition for each estate of its Terroir and reputation. Information, of course, came from the most reliable sources. Published on April 18,1855, the Classification was the confirmation of an existing market and the evolution over more than a century.

The 50 hectares of Léoville and 17 hectares of Langoa, planted in gravelly soil with a clay sub-soil, include large proportions of old vines in order to obtain the best possible quality. The grape varieties is 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc for Léoville Barton, while Langoa Barton’s terroir is shared as follows 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc. Both properties have the same vinification methods.

The wines are typical of the Saint-Julien area, well balanced wines with subtle bouquets and flavours; the emphasis being on elegance and finesse rather than on power and extraction. This is achieved by picking the grapes at their maximum ripeness and allowing the fermentation to take place at a controlled temperature of 30/32°C. Although excessive extraction is avoided by removing the juice from the skins at the appropriate time, the wines have a lovely deep colour, excellent structure and sufficient tannins to ensure good ageing potential.

At harvest time the grapes arrive in the ‘Cuvier’ where they are processed and fermented in wooden vats of approximately 200 hectolitres. These big wooden vats are pleasing to the eye and typical of the traditional approach to wine making at Langoa and Léoville Barton. Some years ago it became fashionable to remove wooden vats and replace them with stainless steel. The reason for this was the easier control of temperature during fermentation in stainless steel as opposed to wood.

The Bartons thought that the expense was enormous (around 5 million francs), that the wooden vats had made excellent wines in the past and above all that in the near future a method of controlling temperature in wooden vats would be discovered. This turned out to be true and today a system of thermo-regulation enables the juice to be fermented at the exact temperature desired. So there are no regrets for having kept the wooden vats and they do look better!

Although the modern wine making methods permit wine to be drunk at a younger age than in the past, the great vintages may easily be kept for 25 to 30 years and more. It is important to remember that the lighter years drunk at the right time can give more pleasure than the great years drunk before reaching maturity.

But the Bartons do not cling to tradition for tradition’s sake. A most modern crusher-destemmer is in place and the wine press is also one of the latest models. The fermentation normally lasts for about 5 days during which time the juice is pumped over twice a day. The wine is left with the skins for about two weeks, the exact period depending on the quality of the harvest.
It is then drawn off and the skins are pressed to obtain the ‘vin de presse’ a most important component of the final blend. The malo-lactic fermentation then takes place in the vats, after which the wine is drawn off into barrels for ageing in the neighbouring cellars.
And so, the job of the ‘cuvier’ is over for another year.

Anthony Barton was born at Straffan House in Co. Kildare (Ireland) in 1930. He was destined to inherit little or nothing of the family estates. His elder brother Christopher was heir to Straffan and the vineyards in France were owned by his Uncle Ronald who would normally have married and had his own children to whom he would naturally have left his property. Although Ronald did marry late in life he had no children and Anthony thus became his heir.

After studies in Ireland and in England, Anthony came to settle in France in 1951. Once again there were difficulties within the wine trade ; the war had meant many years when exports to traditional markets had come to a complete stop and the lack of demand resulted in such low prices that Langoa and Léoville Barton were running at a loss. The first vintage that Anthony witnessed was 1951, so awful that his Uncle Ronald told him “another vintage like this and I will have to sell” - not a very encouraging start to his new life! Fortunately there were two good years to follow but even so prices remained below a profitable level for some time to come.

The affairs of B&G were better but not brilliant. In 1954 Seagram took a 50% interest in the business and a few years later became majority share-holders. Anthony continued to work as export director until 1967 when he left to start his own firm “Les Vins Fins Anthony Barton”. Although he kept in touch with the activities of the vineyards he was busy creating his new venture and did not take a truly active part at the Châteaux until 1983 when Ronald donated the property to him. Since 1986, Anthony Barton has lived in the château with his wife, Eva, native of Copenhagen.