Leoville Las Cases 2017

St Julien, Second Growth

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Tasting Notes
The 2017 Léoville Las-Cases was picked between 15 September and 4 October, cropped at 37hl/ha and as usual, comes from the oldest vines that average around 50-years old. This year there is 13.28° alcohol. It is matured in 90% new oak and contains 7.5% vin de presse. It has a very clean and precise bouquet with blackberry, just a touch of blueberry, violet and a hint of bay leaf. This gains intensity with aeration but it is not as detailed as last year’s 2016. The palate is medium-bodied with more supple tannins than usual (that word is apt – there is nothing “soft” about this Saint-Julien). It has great depth with layers of black fruit laced with graphite and a pinch of white pepper, whilst it delivers fine salinity on the sappy finish. Excellent. Score: 93 - 95 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2022-2050 01 May 2018
The 2017 Léoville Las Cases is remarkably elegant and polished for this typically brutish Saint-Julien. Persistence more than power is the key element that distinguishes the 2017 from most other vintages and most other Saint-Juliens as well. The classic Las Cases flavor profile is very much in evidence, but in a wine that is silky, nuanced and exceptionally polished. In 2017, Las Cases is truly magical, and one of the most complete wines of the Left Bank. In a word: sublime. Don't miss it. Tasted two times. Score: 94 - 97 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 May 2018
Very dark with black core. This invites you in but doesn't say much in terms of aroma. It is dark, intense and sober at heart but with flashes of colour to suggest a future revelation. Super-fine texture, so much finer than I remember earlier vintages, especially at this young age. Seems almost delicate already but has amazing and effortless concentration. Already elegant. And unexpectedly juicy on the finish. Very very long. Fruit purity persists to the end. Score: 18 Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2027-2045 27 April 2018
The 2017 Léoville Las Cases, a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon with 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot from 50- to 90-year-old vines, is deep garnet-purple in color and simply sings of crushed blackcurrants, wild blueberries and plum preserves with notions of wood smoke, cigar boxes, crushed rocks and beef drippings. Medium-bodied with wonderful intensity and vivacity, it gives a firm, fine-grained frame and a densely packed mid-palate, finishing long and earthy. This should age incredibly! Score: 96 - 98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 27 April 2018
The flagship 2017 Léoville Las Cases is made from 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Merlot, still aging in 90% new barrels, and it’s unquestionably one of the greatest wines in this complex, far from homogenous vintage. Inky black colored with sensational richness in its black currants, scorched earth, graphite, and charcoal aromas and flavors, this blockbuster barrel sample is full-bodied, powerful, and concentrated. It has bright acidity, building tannin, and is going to need 5-7 years of cellaring to be drinkable. Score: 95 - 97 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 23 April 2018
This is very muscular with formed and bright tannins that give the wine super drive and length. The tannins build on the finish with a lovely integration of black fruits. Serious for the vintage. Score: 96 - 97 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 05 April 2018
This has the vintage’s fresh acidity, which does a wonderful job of driving the core of blueberry, black currant and blackberry fruit along. Light anise and graphite accents lend typicity, with a sleek mineral edge on the finish. Rock solid. Score: 93 - 96 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 04 April 2018
One of the very few wines in this vintage that truly stains the glass with its wonderfully vibrant anthocyanins. This is an exceptional wine - Léoville just knows how to knock it out of the park again and again. An early vintage meant everything was blended and in barrels before Christmas, with 7.5% press wine, so this has had some time to settle down already. There's huge persistency through the palate, very similar to last year. It has presence and a grip that doesn't want to let go, and you don't want it to either. It continues to reveal itself over the course of the glass, showing slate, cassis, blackberry and charcoal. It's not as powerfully knitted as the 2016, but watch out for those tannins. I expect this will be a wine that, like the 1996 and 2016, will close down and evolve extremely slowly. Stunning aromatics. 90% new oak. 3.72pH. Score: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027-2042 01 April 2018
One of the finest wines of the vintage in Bordeaux, the 2017 Léoville Las Cases is a beautiful Saint-Julien that bursts from the glass with expressive aromas of cassis, wild berries, pencil shavings, violets and a subtle hint of cigar box. Medium to full-bodied, supple and enveloping, its unusually charming, sensual profile largely conceals a considerable endowment of tannin and a bright spine of acidity. Largely spared by the frost due to its optimal location on the bank of the Gironde, and subject to a draconian selection, the 2017's giving style reflects not only the vintage but also more restrained use of press wine chez Las Cases, seeing only 7% in the blend as opposed to the 10% to 12% that was typical not too long ago. It's a masterpiece. Score: 96 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2023-2065 30 November -0001

Tasting Notes

The 2017 Léoville Las-Cases was picked between 15 September and 4 October, cropped at 37hl/ha and as usual, comes from the oldest vines that average around 50-years old. This year there is 13.28° alcohol. It is matured in 90% new oak and contains 7.5% vin de presse. It has a very clean and precise bouquet with blackberry, just a touch of blueberry, violet and a hint of bay leaf. This gains intensity with aeration but it is not as detailed as last year’s 2016. The palate is medium-bodied with more supple tannins than usual (that word is apt – there is nothing “soft” about this Saint-Julien). It has great depth with layers of black fruit laced with graphite and a pinch of white pepper, whilst it delivers fine salinity on the sappy finish. Excellent.

Score: 93 - 95

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2022-2050 01 May 2018

The 2017 Léoville Las Cases is remarkably elegant and polished for this typically brutish Saint-Julien. Persistence more than power is the key element that distinguishes the 2017 from most other vintages and most other Saint-Juliens as well. The classic Las Cases flavor profile is very much in evidence, but in a wine that is silky, nuanced and exceptionally polished. In 2017, Las Cases is truly magical, and one of the most complete wines of the Left Bank. In a word: sublime. Don't miss it. Tasted two times.

Score: 94 - 97

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 May 2018

Very dark with black core. This invites you in but doesn't say much in terms of aroma. It is dark, intense and sober at heart but with flashes of colour to suggest a future revelation. Super-fine texture, so much finer than I remember earlier vintages, especially at this young age. Seems almost delicate already but has amazing and effortless concentration. Already elegant. And unexpectedly juicy on the finish. Very very long. Fruit purity persists to the end.

Score: 18

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2027-2045 27 April 2018

The 2017 Léoville Las Cases, a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon with 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot from 50- to 90-year-old vines, is deep garnet-purple in color and simply sings of crushed blackcurrants, wild blueberries and plum preserves with notions of wood smoke, cigar boxes, crushed rocks and beef drippings. Medium-bodied with wonderful intensity and vivacity, it gives a firm, fine-grained frame and a densely packed mid-palate, finishing long and earthy. This should age incredibly!

Score: 96 - 98

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 27 April 2018

The flagship 2017 Léoville Las Cases is made from 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Merlot, still aging in 90% new barrels, and it’s unquestionably one of the greatest wines in this complex, far from homogenous vintage. Inky black colored with sensational richness in its black currants, scorched earth, graphite, and charcoal aromas and flavors, this blockbuster barrel sample is full-bodied, powerful, and concentrated. It has bright acidity, building tannin, and is going to need 5-7 years of cellaring to be drinkable.

Score: 95 - 97

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 23 April 2018

This is very muscular with formed and bright tannins that give the wine super drive and length. The tannins build on the finish with a lovely integration of black fruits. Serious for the vintage.

Score: 96 - 97

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 05 April 2018

This has the vintage’s fresh acidity, which does a wonderful job of driving the core of blueberry, black currant and blackberry fruit along. Light anise and graphite accents lend typicity, with a sleek mineral edge on the finish. Rock solid.

Score: 93 - 96

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 04 April 2018

One of the very few wines in this vintage that truly stains the glass with its wonderfully vibrant anthocyanins. This is an exceptional wine - Léoville just knows how to knock it out of the park again and again. An early vintage meant everything was blended and in barrels before Christmas, with 7.5% press wine, so this has had some time to settle down already. There's huge persistency through the palate, very similar to last year. It has presence and a grip that doesn't want to let go, and you don't want it to either. It continues to reveal itself over the course of the glass, showing slate, cassis, blackberry and charcoal. It's not as powerfully knitted as the 2016, but watch out for those tannins. I expect this will be a wine that, like the 1996 and 2016, will close down and evolve extremely slowly. Stunning aromatics. 90% new oak. 3.72pH.

Score: 97

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027-2042 01 April 2018

One of the finest wines of the vintage in Bordeaux, the 2017 Léoville Las Cases is a beautiful Saint-Julien that bursts from the glass with expressive aromas of cassis, wild berries, pencil shavings, violets and a subtle hint of cigar box. Medium to full-bodied, supple and enveloping, its unusually charming, sensual profile largely conceals a considerable endowment of tannin and a bright spine of acidity. Largely spared by the frost due to its optimal location on the bank of the Gironde, and subject to a draconian selection, the 2017's giving style reflects not only the vintage but also more restrained use of press wine chez Las Cases, seeing only 7% in the blend as opposed to the 10% to 12% that was typical not too long ago. It's a masterpiece.

Score: 96

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2023-2065 30 November -0001

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