In Bond Fine Wine. 1996 Château Leoville Las Cases, Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France. Second Growth • Red Bordeaux in 12x75cl. Top critic score: 98/100 (NM). Drinking window: 2024–2040. Sold in bond by Albany Vintners, independent fine wine merchants.
Chateau Leoville Las Cases is widely regarded as one of the greatest wines of the Medoc, a top Second Growth with quality that often rivals the First Growths. Originally part of the Leoville estate before it was divided into three. Located in the northern part of Saint Julien, its walled Grand Enclos vineyard borders Chateau Latour in Pauillac, benefiting from similarly exceptional deep gravel and clay soils, yielding powerful ageworthy wines. The estate is owned and managed by the Delon family with Jean-Hubert Delon at the helm. Leoville Las Cases is typically dense and structured in its youth, requiring time to fully reveal its complexity but have recently increased the percentage of Cabernet Franc in the blend to enhance aromatic complexity, freshness and elegance in the blend. Las Cases has produced a string of outstanding vintages, including 1982, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2016, and…
Robert Parker (RP) — 98/100 · Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com, 30/04/1999 · Drink 2007-2035
Having previously rated it nearly perfect, I was apprehensive of a letdown about tasting the 1996 Leoville Las Cases once it had been bottled, but that concern was quickly dismissed once I put my nose in the glass. A profound Leoville Las Cases, it is one of the great modern day wines of Bordeaux. This wine's hallmark remains a sur-maturite (over-ripeness) of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Yet the…
Neal Martin (NM) — 98/100 · Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com, 28/10/2016 · Drink 2020-2050
The 1996 Leoville-Las Cases is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Franc picked between 25 September and 10 October (for fascinating insight, read Robert Parker's remarks about the blend with Michel Delon in the original tasting note). Now at 20 years, it has evolved into an absolutely stunning Saint Julien, clearly one of the best wines from the estate this decade. The…
Jane Anson (JA) — 100/100 · Inside Bordeaux, 2024-06-12 · Drink 2024-2040
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 d…