Chateau Leoville Las Cases (1.5 Liter Magnum) 2005

Professional Ratings

• 100 Wine Spectator
  This is breathtaking. Black in color, with incredible aromas of crushed blackberry, mineral, licorice and lead pencil. Full-bodied, with a mind-blowing texture of seamless tannins that coat every millimeter of the palate. Goes on and on, with licorice, currant and flowers. Time will tell if it's better than the 2000. Best after 2017. 20,000 cases made.
• 99 James Suckling
  A stunningly complex and complete nose of flowers, dark fruits, and minerals. Very perfumed and subtle at the same time. The palate is full, yet tight and powerful with perfect tannins and a long, long finish. The quality of the tannins is phenomenal, please leave this alone for ten years. Pull the cork in 2020.
• 98 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  The 2005 Léoville Las Cases is a classic that numbers among the wines of the vintage in the Médoc. Wafting from the glass with notes of dark berries, cassis, incense, burning embers, sweet soil tones, dark chocolate and cigar wrapper, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a vibrant core of fruit, lively acids and sweet, powdery tannins. More elegant and refined than the hulking, uncompromising 2006, the 2005 is nevertheless a powerful, tightly wound wine that will reward further bottle age, even if it's actually quite expressive today. Best After 2025

• 98 Wine & Spirits
  Here is one more vintage to prove Las Cases deserves to be elevated to first growth. The Delon family has tended this great terroir as if they were already there. And the wine has the assured stance, the persistence of flavor that lasts long enough to become a memory, an imprint on whatever synaptic connection may store and recall the greatest pleasures of taste. The energy in the wine is remarkable: beautiful, lithe juice that carries a flavor close to tiny currants and black cherries, but a flavor all its own. The deep stones of Le Clos and the roses with their view of the Gironde seem to be there in the wine as well. Harmonious and jazzed. Perhaps this is the vintage.
• 97 Wine Enthusiast
  A big wine with dense tannins, but so elegant. Dark, intense, with layers of acidity underneath that only show through at the end. Unusually, Cabernet Sauvignon dominates this wine, a sign of the ripeness of the Cabernet fruit. Barrel Sample: 95-97 Points