1956 Château Léoville Barton

I have a soft spot for off-vintage Claret – the more “off,” the better. There must be a masochistic side to my personality that draws me inexorably toward vintages that should come with a government health warning. They don’t come riskier than the annus horribilis 1956, when Bordeaux infamously turned into the Arctic for a prolonged spell in February and vast swaths of vines perished in a mass execution by frost.