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Deep brooding opaque colour, hiding its 15 years of age. Wonderfully complex aromas of liquorice, plums and hints of roasted fruits. In the palate this is a wine of layered power as its dense dark berried fruit flavours fill and coat the mouth. This is a wine of extraordinary concentration and has the brooding weight that one so often associates with its illustrious neighbour, Ch Latour. Rich and beautifully full, with hints of cocoa, Valrhona chocolate, and wonderfully sweet currant fruits, whilst still remaining forever fresh and lively. Undoubtedly a delicious glass today, but one really feels that this can develop further in the bottle over the next 5 years and has the ability to age comfortably up to 2030 and even beyond. An absolutely great wine.
Deep brooding opaque colour, hiding its 15 years of age. Wonderfully complex aromas of liquorice, plums and hints of roasted fruits. In the palate this is a wine of layered power as its dense dark berried fruit flavours fill and coat the mouth. This is a wine of extraordinary concentration and has the brooding weight that one so often associates with its illustrious neighbour, Ch Latour. Rich and beautifully full, with hints of cocoa, Valrhona chocolate, and wonderfully sweet currant fruits, whilst still remaining forever fresh and lively. Undoubtedly a delicious glass today, but one really feels that this can develop further in the bottle over the next 5 years and has the ability to age comfortably up to 2030 and even beyond. An absolutely great wine.
A massive, dark, concentrated Las Cases thanks to low yields of very ripe cabernetfruit. Showing all the hallmarks of a first growth, it is a tribute to the massive effortsof Jean-Hubert Delon and his team.
Along with the Medoc first growths, Leoville Barton, Chateau Montrose, Sociando Mallet, and a handful of other producers, Leoville Las Cases continues to make a wine meant for very long-term cellaring. When I did my earlier tastings of the 2000, my projected maturity dates were 2012-2040, but it is looking more like 2020-2050. This full-bodied blend of nearly 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.4% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc still has a youthful ruby/purple color, notes of graphite, kirsch liqueur, black currants, and lead pencil shavings, with good acidity, the tell-tale purity, layered ripeness and intensity, and a profound finish. However, with its high level of tannin and brooding backwardness, this superb effort needs to be forgotten for up to a decade.
This wine has put on weight and, as impressive as it was from cask, it is even more brilliant from bottle. Only 35% of the crop made it into the 2000 Leoville Las Cases, a blend of 76.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.4% Merlot, and 8.8% Cabernet Franc. The wine is truly profound, with an opaque purple color and a tight but promising nose of vanilla, sweet cherry liqueur, black currants, and licorice in a dense, full-bodied, almost painfully rich, intense style with no hard edges. This seamless classic builds in the mouth, with a finish that lasts over 60 seconds. Still primary, yet extraordinarily pure, this compelling wine, which continues to build flavor intensity and exhibit additional layers of texture, is a tour de force in winemaking and certainly one of the great Leoville Las Cases. In another sense, it symbolizes / pays homage to proprietor Michel Delon, who passed away in 2000. Michel has been succeeded by his son, Jean-Hubert, another perfectionist. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2040.
A torpedo of a wine. Very very deep blackish purple. Explosive, almost smoky nose. So concentrated it is almost painful to taste at this stage. The acidity is extemely high, the tannins still rude. This is a statement of a different sort and could hardly be more different from Léoville Barton. I ask Jean-Hubert Delon whether he used his famous concentrator at all? "Pratiquement pas" is his answer. 77% Cabernet sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc. 60% new oak. 45 hl/ha.
76.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.4% Cabernet Franc, 8.8% Merlot. 60% new wood. 35.2% of harvest in the grand vin. 47.5 hl/ha before reverse osmosis, 45.5 hl/ha afterward. For the first time some of the Cabernet Sauvignon was over 13° potential alcohol. Fine colour. Marvellous nose. Rich and aristocratic and profound and intensely flavoured. Full bodied but not a blockbuster. With no Petit Verdot it is not as austere as it often is. Fine tannins. Splendid fruit. Complete from start to finish. Very fresh without being a bit over-ripe. Very intense and vigorous on the follow-through.Splendidly Saint-Julien/Pauillac/Cabernet Sauvignon character. Real breed. Very, very long and complex. I find this more structured than the 1996 with more richness and volume of fruit, and morecomplete than the 1990 as well as more Cabernet Sauvignony. Very fine indeed. From 2012+.
The 2000 Léoville Las Cases takes time to unwind in the decanter and glass, but when it begins to show all its cards, the display is spectacular. Mingling aromas of dark berries and red fruits with aromas of pencil shavings, loamy soil, cedar box, bitter chocolate, dried rose petals and licorice, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered, complete mid-palate that's rare in this vintage, powdery tannins and a long, resonant finish. An uncompromising classic, even as it closes in on its 22nd birthday, the 2000 Las Cases remains an infant in terms of evolution. 2025-2055
St Julien is like the middle child of the Médoc - not as assertive as Pauillac or as coquettish as Margaux. It lies firmly between the two more outspoken communes and as a result produces a blend of them both. St Julien's wines have often been sought out by aficionados for their balance and consistency, particularly in the UK. Yet due to its middle child nature, it can occasionally be overlooked globally and as a result underrated by those markets outside the UK. Despite the fact that it has no first growths, it has several second growths including Léoville Las Cases, Léoville Barton, Léoville Poyferré and Ducru Beaucaillou as well as the celebrated châteaux such as Talbot and Beychevelle.
