Château Léoville Barton 1986, St-Julien 2em Cru Classé (2)

Château Léoville Barton 1986
St-Julien 2em Cru Classé
(2 top shoulder, 1 bin-soiled, 1 lightly nicked, 1 scuffed and 1 heavily wine-stained label)
2 bottles

"Still backward (frustratingly so), this wine shows a very dark ruby color with a hint of pink at the rim. The aromatics are beginning to emerge from just pure fruit-driven notes to secondary characteristics. Sweet earth, truffle, black currant, underbrush, and licorice emerge with coaxing. In the mouth, the wine is powerful, dense, with high tannin., impressive concentration, and a formidable, sort of old-style personality. The best 1986 Medocs are terrific wines, but have never been wines that show a lot of charm. Like so many of its siblings from the Medoc, one admires the wines more than actually enjoys them,. I still have high hopes that everything will come together." (91+pts Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book, 4th Edition, Dec 2002)