Leoville Barton1996 from half bottle

Purchased as a future and kept off site in professional storage ever since. I mention this because the wine has barely evolved, it could have been three or four years. Color saturated crimson, nose dark fruit and spice, very primary. Shows the slightly edgy tannins of the vintage and has a long finish. Cannot believe how backward this wine is.

Uh oh. I was going to open a bottle at my ‘96 son’s upcoming graduation. Should I pull Leoville Poyferre instead? I recently enjoyed young ‘96 Calon Segur, but figured Cos d’Estourn would also be too soon.
Thanks,
Peter

Hard to say. I know the Calon is drinking well and I suspect the Poyferre is also good, but then I would have said the same about the Barton.

We’ve just been having a discussion on BWE how glacially slow most 95 and 96 Bordeaux are developing.

I am not not touching my 96. Imho they will follow an aging curve similar to 89. Long and slow…

Both '95 and '96 are very backward. Quite stubborn

I would heartily concur. Drank a '95 Calon Segur a couple of years ago and it was a complete waste of time. Hard and closed as a rock. Told myself I would not touch another one for 5 years.

I’ve had that 95 Calon Segur a number of times since release…I don’t think it really is going to get any better. What you see is what you get.

LOL. Will you sell me all of your bottles at release price plus a modest up-charge? At the right price I’ll buy them all.

I agree. This seems to be the Benjamin Button of wines. It was more approachable in the mid-2000s than it is now.

The 1995 Calon Segur seems to be quite a controversial wine. I bought a batch and they were awful, so sold them. Still have a case ib.

Letting my 1996s (mostly Léoville Barton, Léoville Las Cases and Ducru) sleep.

One 1995 that seems to be coming along well is Clinet. Starting to show some nice tertiary complexity 3 years ago but needed 90 minutes to open up. Probably time for another try.

The only 95 I tried was 2 years ago and had upside potential. It needs airtime to open.

Just a quick follow-up to my earlier post. For our son’s graduation dinner, we opened the 1996 Leoville Poyferre. Decanted immediately before serving, the nose was surprisingly open with classic St. Julien aromas. The palate didn’t fully deliver, although it didn’t seem backwards per se. Indeed, balance was nice, just not enough of everything. Perhaps hidden tannins demanding more patience.

By contrast, our 1996 Ornellaia was fully resolved and drinking quite well. Guess I’m advising to drink your 1996 Tuscan cabs now while your Bordeaux rests.
Regards,
Peter

The 1996 Calon I had with Todd and Fred this past weekend was drinking well. Posted photos and notes earlier today. Congrats on the graduation!

Funny, I’ve had some fantastic '96s recently that I felt were drinking at peak. Including the Leoville Poyferre. I wonder how much this has to do with “purchased at release + off site professional storage”

A lot. There are wines which hit auction which may have turned several times, and there are wines which have been babied over a long period like the Barton, and are very slow to develop. It did move once, when I brought all my wines from CT storage to River Valley.

The weird thing is I treasure wines which often look awful, because they have been kept in a damp cellar, have practically no ullage, but are rejected because the labels are so poor. Usually a serious discount, and almost always the best version of that particular wine. Just about to open my first bottle of La Chapelle 1985, which is exactly that, and I have really high hopes.

Let us know how the Chapelle is!