98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2020 Leoville Barton has a deep garnet-purple color. It is incredibly primary and youthful with expressive scents of crème de cassis, ripe juicy plums, and black raspberries, opening out to hints of vanilla pod, coffee, star anise, and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is beautifully restrained, with lovely tension and firm, very fine-grained tannins, finishing so long and achingly graceful. Wow!

97+ Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The flagship from this great château, the 2020 Château Léoville Barton checks in as 85.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14.5% Merlot that saw 60% new French oak. It has fabulous aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, liquid violets, spring flowers, and background oak. Full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, its purity of fruit is just about off the chart, it has a great mid-palate, and enough tannins to warrant 7-8 years of bottle age. This is another sensational wine from this team that will have 30-40 years of overall longevity.

96-97 Jonathan Choukroun - Vert de Vin

On the nose, elegance with good complexity, richness (in control) and depth. Notes of fleshy blackberry, creamy strawberry and slightly brighter cassis combined with hints of graphite, spice, ripe/pulpy small fruits, racy minerality as well as discreet hints of nutmeg, saffron, a subtle hint of cuben pepper and an imperceptible hint of salinity. The palate is fruity, fresh, elegant and offers delicacy (like a velvet glove), precision, a nice airy character, a tangy frame, subtlety and a very fine/discreet tight grain. On the palate, expressing juicy/fresh blackberry, raspberry and more lightly ripe berry notes combined with hints of fresh vanilla, bright small red fruits, bright plum, fresh blond tobacco as well as a discreet hint of nutmeg, tonka bean, racy minerality/fresh gravel, fresh hazelnut, sweet spice and bourbon vanilla (in the background). The tannins are fine, elegant, precise, racy and offer a little mellow. A nice persistence. A very fine texture on the finish/persistence. A gourmet taste on the finish/aftertaste.

96 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2020 Léoville Barton is compelling. It offers up a gorgeous mix of vintage 2020 intensity married to the classicism Léoville-Barton have come to expect. Blackberry, graphite, dried herbs, menthol and dark spice abound. Whereas so many Saint-Juliens are exuberant in 2020, Léoville-Barton is very much buttoned up, showing just a twinkle of mischief that lets you know the best is yet to come.

95+ William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

A superb wine, the 2020 Léoville Barton exhibits generous aromas of blackberries and crème de cassis mingled with hints of licorice, pencil shavings and classy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy, with a concentrated core of fruit, sweet tannins and a nicely defined finish, it bears some similarities with the estate's demonstrative 2000 vintage, even if the two growing seasons were quite different. I suspect it will tighten up with more time in bottle, hence the plus sign next to my score, but right now, the 2020 is unusually accessible out of the gates.