France

Marquis de Las Cases

Marquis de Las Cases Saint-Julien

Bordeaux

Saint-Julien

Deep dark hidden depths on the colour here, and this is the highest tannin count (82IPT) of all the vintagtes that I am tasting, including the 2020. Classic 2016 flavours and aromatics from this parl of Bordeaux - crushed rocks, concentrated creème de cassis, slate-licking minerality, this scrapes through the palate. Almost softened by chocolate shavings although the sensation is more akin to biting into a cocoa bean. The precision and the sense of tightrope walking is incredible, this is flying high and will only get better and better over time. I am standing by this score, but don't expect it to be showing you the best of itself any time soon. 50% new oak.

Inside Bordeaux

The 2023 Leoville Las Cases is deep garnet-purple in color. After a little shaking, notes of ripe blackcurrants, black cherries, and mulberries slowly emerge from the glass, giving way to a fragrant undercurrent of iris, crushed rocks, fertile loam, and dark chocolate. The medium-bodied palate is very tightly wound with taut black berry layers and loads of mineral accents, framed by firm fine-grained tannins and wonderful tension, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. This should be a very long-lived Las Cases! The blend is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Merlot, with pH 3.79, alcohol of 13.1%, and TPI 72. It is aging for around 18 months in French oak barriques, 80% new.

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

A blend of 83.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10.5% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Merlot, with a pH of 3.8, the 2022 Leoville Las Cases is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a lot of waking up before it strides confidently out of the glass with classic scents of warm cassis, juicy black plums, and pencil shavings, giving way to wafts of evocative scents of iron ore, crushed rocks, wood smoke, and violets, with a hint of star anise. The medium to full-bodied palate is the Taj Mahal of Cabernets, built with an amazing structure and so many intricate layers, it makes the mind spin. Youthful, crunchy black fruits and mineral sparks give way to a core of savory notes and plum preserves, intertwined with a firm backbone of exquisitely ripe tannins, and a very long, seamlessly lively finish. Wow!

A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Franc, the 2021 Leoville Las Cases is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a fair bit of swirling and coaxing to reveal a pronounced core of cassis, Morello cherries, and mulberries, giving way to a fragrant undercurrent of tilled soil, charcoal, violets, and cedar, plus a touch of Sichuan pepper. The medium-bodied palate delivers impressive, tightly wound layers of black fruits and minerals, framed by ripe, fine-grained tannins and wonderful tension, finishing long and perfumed. All minerals and florals - very pretty!

Richly textured from the first moment, pencil lead, cassis, black cherry, cigar box, liqourice and espresso, just waves of utterly gorgeous flavours. I highly recommend that if you can find a way to taste a young Las Cases, it is worth your time, because the bare bones of what it will become are there, and remain visible for a few years before the entire thing clamps shut for a decade or more, prising open only one chink at a time. There are edges of violet and smoked caramel here, revealing a generous Las Cases compared to many vintages, but it will close down like the rest do, surely as night follows day. 50% new oak. The alcohol level is 1% less than 2018 and 0.5% less than in 2019, 3.65ph, 34hl/ha yield.

This is just a great Las Cases where the structure expands upwards and outwards, making your tastebuds sit up and pay attention. The scraping minerality almost feels like you are on limestone instead of gravel soils, until the tannins kick in and you hit a wall of slate, spice, liquorice, rosebud, violet. Dark autumnal fruits of blackcurrant and bilberry are set against smoke and flint, giving no ground, demanding you slow down and take your time. It opens up, but you need to work for it. Exudes authority, a wine that delivers the essence of the property. Harvest September 18 to October 8. 3.67pH, 90% new oak.

The 2018 Leoville Las Cases has a deep garnet-purple color. It bursts with notes of baked plums, fruitcake, and crème de cassis, plus suggestions of sandalwood, dusty soil, and powdered cinnamon. Medium-bodied, the palate has just enough tightly wound, restrained fruit, with a very fine-grained texture and a persistent, mineral-laced finish. Typically, it's retreated to its shell and will need a good five years more in bottle before it really shows its pedigree.

This is a vintage that, like 1997, just might give you a chance of enjoying a bottle of Las Cases before the 20 year mark, and shows the hint of smoked caramel on the nose that you get in the lighter years. A kick of oyster shell salinity runs through the palate, helping to lift the wine out of the glass, alive with orange zest, mandarin peel, safffron, and crayon alongside the cassis and lighter redcurrant fruits. Atypical for Las Cases, but retaining clear St Julien signature.

Less exuberant than some of its neighbours, as you might expect, but no less exceptional. Very much in the estate signature, demanding attention but expecting you to wait and pay homage until it is ready to speak. Give it time to unveil its muscular, concentrated cassis and bilberry fruits, puncuated by crushed mint leaf, crayon and liqourice bud. Huge depth through the mid palate, serious, structured, very much in the estate signature, showcasing the idea of it being a wine that is Burdundian in its balance of frustration and delight. Huge potential, but as I said last time I tasted it around a year ago, for now it's not giving much away. 50% new oak.

Focus on soft and appealing fruits, gently aromatic strawberry, raspberry and red cherry character, edges of rose petal, fragrant tomato leaf and tobacco. Worth looking out for, ready to drink. Harvest from October 2 to 17.

The tannins are noticeably bigger than the other St Juliens in the lineup, with more grip through the palate and you feel the structure exerting a gentle pressure at the close of play. There are fruits here also, in the cassis and bilberry frame as with Léoville Barton, with touches of mint leaf and eucalyptus. Not generous, but plenty of impact, and a gentle mouthwatering salinity. Lighter framed within the Las Cases world, but one of the more impactful 2012s overall.

Luscious vintage that allows even Las Cases to be generous and almost hedonistic at 14 years old, almost unheard of with this property (helped by slightly higher level of alcohol than usual filling out the mouthfeel). This remains more closed down than most 2009s that you will find, with tannins that are powerful and confident, guiding the cassis fruit while allowing gourmet notes of black chocolate, tarte tatin and pomegrante to surface, along with bitter edges of burnt saffron, liquroice and charcoal. 50% new oak, 3.6ph. Harvest September 22 to October 7.

An underestimated vintage that has aged a little quicker than the 2005 (or 2006, 2008 and 2009), and therefore makes it a good choice for any impatient Las Cases lovers. This focus on a floral character aromatically, along with truffles, brambled fruits, orange zest, earth, this is a gorgeous wine that floats above the palate, and takes you far above what most 2007s can deliver. It's a vintage that I really enjoy right now, and can recommend several wines from, but this stands out for its quiet concentration and interest - there doesn't seem to be any other word for it, it's a wine you want to read, spend time with, be quietly impressed by. Jean-Hubert Delon owner, 50% new oak.

This is still too young to drink, and provides a lesson in how Léoville Las Cases can be out of step with the rest of its appellation. This remains austere, with tannins that are well built but still hiding the dark chocolate shavings, cloves, cassis, slate and black truffle character underneath. Right now this is a 2005 that accentutes the structre of the year, and is not yet showing its generosity. Mouthwatering finish though, with the frssh acidities that make this wine such an ageing powerhouse. Give it time, the rewards will come. 50% new oak. mark LLC and make it such an ageing powerhouse. Jean-Hubert Delon owner.

I am loving classified Pauillac and St Julien from this vintage right now, and Las Cases doesn't disappoint. Its texture is all satin and velvet, with waves of spiced turmeric and cloves, brambled blackcurrant, blueberry, pomegranate, passion fruit, liqourice and crushed rock, with orange rind freshness that gives a kick and a shiver of electricity. Grip and freshness, still full of life. A record temperature of 48C clocked in at the estate's weather station during the baking summer of 2003, with over 50 days when it never dropped below 30C even during the night. 50% new oak, 3.62ph, harvest September 11 to 26, Jean-Hubert Delon owner.

Deeper in colour and presence than the 1995, this jumps into the world of young Las Cases, a reminder that 20 years of age is pretty much the minimum to begin truly drinking and appreciating this wine, as it makes its shift from monumental to graceful. Black fruit, cassis, blackberry, tannins are tingling and gripping, transmitting power and energy to the mint leaf, slate, crushed rock and eucalyptus finish. Just revving out of the gate, and as it lingers in the glass, the earthy truffled notes you find in the older vintages are just making an appearance, the ghost of Las Cases future. A tightrope walk of concentration and elegance. 50% new oak. Jean-Hubert Delon owner.

Smoked tea, cassis, blackberry, cigar box, camomile, mint leaf, slate and spice, this explodes out of the glass and then holds its own, going nowhere at all over the two or three hours that we sat around the table enjoying it. The 1970 may have had the initial heartstopping armatics, but it was the 1996 that delivered long into the night. Concentrated, tannic, confident. Opened 1.5 hours before drinking, 50% new oak.

A year that can get overlooked on the Left Bank compared to the (majestic at this property) 1986, but I would strongly suggest not forgetting about the 1995 Las Cases. No Petit Verdot, unusual at the time and making it more reflective of modern blends, stong salinity, with waves of oyster shell and white truffles that head towards dried roses, finely boned tannins, campfire, soot, undergrowth, blackberry, and a shot of mandarin juice that injects a shot of freshness and youth. At this stage it isn't loudly proclaiming its brilliance, just gently reminding you that this is a wine built to last, with a shot of electricity running through it. 50% new oak. Michel Delon owner.

A little less vibrant in colour than the 1982, this is closer to tawny than rose, with welcoming soot and hearth smoke on the nose, and on the first palate. The fruit is plum and loganberry, softened and atumnal, with dark spice - the Petit Verdot is making its presence felt in those early years, marking it out from the post 2005 years when this grape no longer appears. Elegant and precise, with fine tannins, softens on the finish, this is in its drinking window, revs up halfway through and again has the precise elegance that makes it so much St Julien once in its mature phase. Great, but not as good as the 1982. 50% new oak. Michel Delon owner.

An estate with the natural power and freshness in its soils of Las Cases is always worth looking at in hot vintages like 1989. This is showing fleshy black fruits, spice, cigar box and rich seams of black truffle, fully mature, almost more so than the 1970 if you can believe that. Gentle tannins, mouthwatering, a wine that sits within the finessed personality of St Julien more than many Las Cases. 50% new oak, harvest September 5 to 25. Michel Delon owner, 3rd generation of the family to do so, renowned for his exceptional cellar, and who liked to exchange cases of his own wine with Burgundian winemakers such as Domaine des Comtes Lafon in Meursault. This bottle not showing quite as well as the one I had last year (in fact we opened two bottles to find the best one), but it's worth the gamble if you can track one down.

Great to see how Las Cases has survived from one of the good-but-not-great vintages of the 1980s. This was opened just before tasting, and needs time to uncurl. Opens up to show earthy, brambled notes of blackberry, tomato leaf, undergrowth, raspberry, saffron and crushed mint leaf. So much complexity and layers of flavor, perfectly read to drink. Harvest October 3 to 16, 50% new oak. Michel Delon owner.

Gentle bricking around the edges of the glass, rose petals and campfire smoke on the first nose. Elegance personified, the tannins are so fine and the overall body so fresh, that it explains right there in the glass why St Julien is loved world over. Las Cases can almost be Pauillac-like when young, but as it ages it reconnects with its St Julien character, and here it shows freshly tilled earth, loam, truffles. Very much on its drinking plateau, but the kind of wine that will quietly, unobtrusively deliver for the next two decades or more. gold, no question. Slight deposit thrown, so suggest carafing, but for the first few hours after opening I would simply let stand. 50% new oak. Michel Delon owner.

You could feel the excitement ripple around the table at the aromatics on this wine, as a clutch of wild roses came floating out of the glass. 1970 was one of the highlight years of the (generally weak) decade, but at this point you'll be hard pressed to find examples that are still going strong. This is certainly one of them, legendary from its first years, still showing crushed raspberry puree and gentle blackberry fruit, white pepper, soft leather, smoked earth, soy, a great example of the meaning of umami in wine. It doesn't last as long in the glass as the 1996, softening over a few hours, but it's one to look out for. Opened just before drinking.

2023	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2022	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2021	No priceNot available	Outstanding
2020	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2019	No priceNot available	Extraordinary

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Marquis de Las Cases
Vintages	2016
Country	France, Bordeaux, Saint-Julien
Bottle	75 cl

Alcohol	%
Acid	%
Sugar	g/l

Packaging
Cork type
Selection
Wholesaler
Carrier