Easter Celebration Family Dinner Vintage Bordeaux & Beef Tenderloin
Château Léoville-Barton Grand Cru Classé Saint-Julien Bordeaux 1981
It is always a privilege and pleasure to meet the always friendly and delightful Lilian Barton-Sartorius from Château Léoville-Barton at the annual tasting of the UGCB (Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB)). She is a regular visitor each year at the annual release tour visit to Chicago, unveiling/showcasing their most recent vintage release wines.
![]() |
Lilian Barton-Sartorius - Château Leoville and Langoa Barton |
The Union is the association of 130 members of the top premier estates from the most prestigious Bordeaux appellations.
Ch. Léoville Barton is a Second Growth Saint-Julien estate, one of the three famous original Léoville estates (along with Léoville Poyferré and Léoville Las Cases).
The two Barton estates, still owned by the Barton family today (along with Ch. Langoa Barton), date back to founder, Irish trader Thomas Barton who arrived in Bordeaux in 1725.

The estate remains in the family today under the stewardship of Lilian Barton and her children Melanie and Damien have both joined the family business.
We toured the historic Château Léoville-Barton grounds and vineyards at the estate during our visit to Saint Julien back in 2019.
I write often in these pages about such a pairing, when properly done will indeed attenuate the enjoyment of both the food and the accompanying wine.
Château Léoville-Barton Saint Julien Bordeaux 1981
I recently purchased several bottles of the most recent 2022 release of this label. was replenishing my stock. I came across several bottles from the OWC (original wood case) from the acquisition upon release of this vintage label. This is also one of the few remaining labels we hold from that 1981 vintage, birthyear of our daughter Erin.
While the 1981 Bordeaux vintage was a bit lackluster and less worthy of long term cellaring, this bottle in its 43rd year was amazingly in remarkable condition - the fill level being just below the foil, and the cork still holding together albeit a bit saturated. The label, as shown, was soiled, and the cork was slightly saturated, but still intact to be able to be extracted with an Ahso two pronged cork puller (shown).
I know that holding this wine for more than four decades was less than ideal and was a bit concerned about the state of this wine, despite its known provenance, having been in our cellar since release.
The wine, while showing its age with some minor signs of diminution from aging, ie. slight browning of the color, was still showing full round fruits, with depth and breadth of flavors and smooth supple structured tannins.
What a relief to get aromas of fruit and appropriate positive accents, and good color as I decanted the wine. Even with the slightly deteriorated cork, this bottle was still very much approachable and within its acceptable drinking window! No doubt the age worthiness was accentuated due to the larger format 1.5l magnum bottle.
Alas, this is the joy of having a deep wine cellar with many vintages across which to compare, over time, even across the decades! My Cellartracker records indicate we have more than a dozen vintages of this label dating back to this vintage and the iconic 1982, 1955 and 1990 vintages, which we're still holding as birth-year wines for our three sons.
After three hours of settling prior to pouring, the wine showed remarkably well. Compare this to the 1981 vintage Chateau Palmer we opened at Christmas dinner which did not fare nearly as well.
Dark garnet colored, medium to full bodied, complex yet nicely balanced and full round flavors of black currant and black cherry fruits accented by very nice notes of all earth, wood, spice and tobacco with some savory sprites of black olive and cedar, finishing with moderate smooth polished tannins the finish - a nice match to the savory sauce accenting our grilled beefsteak.
RM 88 points.
https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/159583
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2023/01/ugcb-2020-vintage-release-tour-chicago.html
https://www.leoville-barton.com/
https://twitter.com/bartonwine
@Bartonwine
We followed this wine with another Bordeaux that I featured in a separate follow on blogpost -