Seán’s Picks

Château Léoville Las Cases
Grand Cru Classé, Saint-Julien, 1986

 

Saint-Julien

Price on Application

3.00L Jeroboam

The 1986 Leoville-Las Cases is still so youthful in appearance after 30 years, with only a thin bricking on the rim giving away its age. The bouquet is magnificent: extraordinarily pure and delineated, bewitching black fruit laced with cedar and graphite, the latter lending an almost Pauillac-like personality. The palate is exactly as I have found the previous dozen or so bottles I have tasted: structured, delineated, intense, aristocratic and imperious. It is less formidable than say, ten years ago, so it has probably just stepped onto its drinking plateau. The acidity is perfectly judged lending freshness and tension, crucial to counterbalance those layers of spicy black fruit that fans out with cedar and graphite (again) towards the finish. You come away with the feeling of having consumed a wine with immense energy, yet with so much more to give over the next three decades, and knowing this property, perhaps even the three decades after that! I would agree with the late Michel Delon: the 1986 Léoville Las-Cases is the summit of the 1980s. Wine Advocate-Robert Parker 98 points

Quick Facts
Winemaker (s)
Jean-Hubert Delon
Domaine
Château Léoville Las Cases
Vintage
1986
Type
Red Wine
Grape (s)
Cabernet Sauvignon 65%
Merlot 19%
Petit Verdot 3%
Cabernet Franc 13%
Country
France
Region
Bordeaux Grands Crus Classés
Appellation
Saint-Julien
Alcohol
13.5%
Bottle Size
3.00L Jeroboam
Closure Type
Natural Cork
Food Pairing
Red Meat
Imported directly
Yes
Region

Château Léoville-Las Cases

Saint-Julien
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