Anson: Tasting Léoville Las Cases wines back to 1989

Jane Anson examines the DNA of Léoville Las Cases wines following a tasting of older vintages at the Decanter Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter. Scroll down to go straight to the tasting notes .

Do you have to be a masochist to love Léoville Las Cases wines?

I have asked myself that a few times when drinking, say, a 2000 or a 2005 that in most properties would be ripe for cracking open but with Léoville requires some finger drumming and a few more years in the cellar.Monolithic, concentrated, powerful and austere; these are all words that you are going to read over and over in tasting descriptions of this estate.And yet, kick off your shoes, pull up a chair and let your nose hover over the glass. You’re going to find those intense black fruits and muscular tannins slowly nudging forward towards something exceptional and, most importantly, edging towards an explanation of just why we love the great Bordeaux wines of the Médoc.

As you might expect, the stubbornness of Léoville Las Cases in terms of its ageing ability comes as no surprise to owner Jean-Hubert Delon.

It’s at least partly why, since 1959, the estate has kept 50% of each vintage back after en primeur to release at a later date.

It has sometimes held back an even higher proportion – only releasing a tiny amount of the 2000 vintage en primeur, for example. The 2001 was not released during the en primeur campaign.

Léoville Las Cases must have a larger stock of old vintages than any other property in Bordeaux, and for a wine like this you can understand why.

Located at the northernmost point of St-Julien, close to the river, Léoville Las Cases arguably shares more characteristics with neighbouring Château Latour in Pauillac than with its more southerly St-Julien siblings.

These are wines that only relax into their true character with serious bottle age.

All of which makes tasting the range of wines produced from these soils particularly illuminating.

About this tasting

This tasting was held with sales director Florent Genty during the Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter in November 2018 and showcased a number of vintages from three of the estate’s wines.

We began with the estate’s second wine, Le Petit Lion, launched in 2007 and partly from young vines within the famous walled Clos that forms the heart of the estate. It is located right next to Latour’s own Enclos.

Vines here are farmed organically, although are not currently certified organic, and are planted on gravel soils that go up to 10 metres deep.

Petit Lion is a blend of the oldest Merlots of the estate, with vines up to 80 years old, and some of the youngest Cabernet Sauvignons, which are not yet old enough to be included in the main wine.

The tasting then moved on to two vintages of Clos du Marquis, a separate wine from distinct soils set a little further back from the river. We finished with five vintages of the first wine back to 1989.

A single vertical won’t answer the question of why Léoville Las Cases wines are able to out-live many others in Bordeaux, but it helps begin to unpick the puzzle.

Léoville Las Cases in brief

• Second growth in the 1855 Classification
• Owner: Jean-Hubert Delon
• Managing director: Pierre Graffeuille
• Estate size: 98 hectares of vineyard, with 45% going to first wine and 10% to second wine, Le Petit Lion
• Clos de Marquis is a separate wine from different vines, with Petite Marquise as its 2nd wine.
• Plantings: 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc

Tasting Léoville Las Cases wines back to 1989

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See Jane Anson’s Léoville Las Cases 2016 rating