Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2008

Professional Ratings

• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  Another underrated vintage for this estate, the 2008 Léoville Las Cases is a vibrant, youthfully primary wine that's aging at a slower pace than the 2009. Unfurling to reveal aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with subtle hints of pencil shavings and nicely integrated new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, taut and layered, with tangy acids, ripe tannins and a long, penetrating finish. Displaying compelling purity and energy, it's a serious Las Cases that will richly reward the patient but which is still some way away from its drinking window. Rating: 95+. Best After 2026

• 95 Wine Enthusiast
  With its superb tannins, the wine has a great solid core of structure. Over it is an edifice of direct black berry fruits, elegant texture and intense acidity. Impressive, a wine for aging.
• 95 James Suckling
  Super racy and balanced. Masses of licorice and currants, intense aromas. Full and very silky with an intensity of fruit. Reminds me of the 1996. Best after 2015.
• 94 Wine Spectator

  This is loaded for the vintage, with layer upon layer of crushed blackberry, fig paste and mulled black currant offset by smoldering tobacco, charcoal and anise notes. The finish is all iron and roasted earth for now, with the density to be among the longest-lived wines of the vintage.