| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > St Julien |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
A brilliant effort, the 2014 Léoville Las Cases is a tightly wound classic that will delight purists. Mingling aromas of dark berries and cassis with hints of bitter chocolate, sweet spices, cigar wrapper, pencil shavings and sweet new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with tangy acids and a deep, firm mid-palate framed by rich, powdery tannins. Concluding with a long, penetrating finish, the only missing ingredient is time. 2028 - 2070
I love the nose of blackberries, blueberries, flowers and citrus. Hints of stones and wet earth. Full body and ultra-fine tannins that are so long and seamless. Incredible length. A wine that you want to drink now.
I love the 2014 vintage in this northerly stretch of the Haut-Médoc, and this is a monumantal Las Cases that is still in its austere phase. It's almost impossible to believe that this will soften in another decade, but it will, because this was fleshy and rich during En Primeur, and all that powerful fruit is still visible - just - but surrounded by tannins, mint bud, eucalyptus, earth, black pepper, cassis and slate minerality. As so often happens with Las Cases in its early stages, so much is about what is not said, rather what is felt but not yet articulated - in this case a sense of growing energy through the palate. Huge potential, but for now it's not giving much away. 50% new oak.
Tasted blind. Sweet, velvety nose. Lots of intensity and glamour. A slightly animal, wild edge to this. Masses of tannin lurking under the fruit – pretty insistent and dramatic. Dry finish. Correct.
Drink 2024-2042
The 2014 Leoville Las Cases is a terrific blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and the rest Merlot, and it’s one of the more backward, tight, age-worthy wines in the vintage. Offering sensational purity in its crème de cassis, graphite, licorice and subtle background oak, it hits the palate with a tight, focused, yet impressively concentrated profile that needs 3-4 years of cellaring and will shine for three decades. It’s another incredibly classy wine from this estate. 2022 - 2052
Densely packed, with cassis, steeped plum and blackberry coulis notes that are compressed with layers of cold charcoal and graphite. Very pure, giving this a long, sleek and racy feel, while an iron underpinning drives the finish. Best from 2020 through 2040. 12,500 cases made.
There's no denying that this is built to last, as Las-Cases often is, but it also has an immediacy that is not always apparent in young samples. Aromatic, cedary and very complete with compact tannins, tightly wound fruit and a sheen of mostly new oak. One of the best Left Bank wines of the vintage.
The 2014 Leoville-Las Cases is a blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc and Merlot, cropped at 33 hectoliters per hectare and matured in 85% new oak. There is 6.8% vin de presse this year. Picked between 30 September and 13 October over 12 days. It has a delectable bouquet with very precise, mineral-rich black fruit infused with oyster shell, which appears to be a leitmotif of Jean-Huber Delon's 2014s! The palate is medium-bodied with wondrous purity and tension, the acidity beautifully poised and imparting the palpable sense of energy from start to finish. Where it really excels is on the finish: exquisite structure, very complex with enormous persistence that lingers for more than a minute. Surely the wine of the appellation, ditto one of the best Left Bank 2014s. Drink 2021-2045
The Château Léoville-Las-Cases 2014 is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot cropped at 33 hectoliter per hectare matured in 85% new oak. There is 6.8% vin de presse this year. Picked between 30 September and 13 October over 12 days, it has an intense, graphite-scented bouquet, one of the most Pauillac-like that I have encountered, extremely precise and perhaps less flamboyant than recent vintages. This is very controlled. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, succinctly pitched acidity and an almost pixelated finish that lingers long and tenderly. I love the elegance here – this is an outstanding wine from Jean-Hubert Delon and his team and dare I say, equal to some of the First Growths.
Drink: 2022 - 2045
The aromas to this wine are enchanting with blackberries, dried flowers, blueberries, citrus and stones. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and bright acidity. Citrus skin undertones. Very, very long. Structured. This is 13.8 alcohol meaning the cabernet was incredibly ripe for the vintage. Yet it remains agile, structured and bright.
Very dark crimson. Intense nose but much lighter and more transparent than Las Cases of old. A little tough at the moment. Dry finish but neither austere nor overdone. Almost delicate - not an adjective I would normally associate with Las Cases. 13.8%
Drink 2025-2040
