Winemaker Notes
Blend: 83.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10.5% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Sophistication and pure beauty on the nose, showing intense lead pencil, blackcurrants, ink and blackberries as well as crushed stones. Spellbinding. Medium-bodied, it grows endlessly on the palate, superb tannins caressing like the finest silk. It just keeps on coming. The character is immaculate. Ethereal. Power with elegance. 83.5% cabernet sauvignon, 10.5% cabernet franc and 6% merlot.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Léoville Las Cases is just as remarkable in bottle as it was from barrel. Wafting from the glass with aromas of beautifully pure cassis fruit mingled with notions of violets, burning embers and subtle cigar box, it has already almost entirely integrated its new oak. Full-bodied, dense and layered, it's deep and resonant, with striking concentration, precision and harmony, concluding with a long, palate-staining finish. This striking Saint-Julien really is one of the wines of the vintage, and the best young Léoville Las Cases.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A monumental wine, the 2022 Château Léoville Las Cases is seriously dense and powerful, with a locked and loaded nose of cassis, crushed stone, graphite, and remarkable mineral intensity. Focused and structured on the palate as well as full-bodied, it has fine tannins and sensational purity. The 2022 is based on 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 6% Merlot, brought up in a mix of new and used oak.
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Decanter
A luminous and utterly brilliant wine in 2022 that really sets itself apart. Hints of black bramble fruit, spicy peppercorns, violets, sweet cherries, crushed stones, ink and cocoa powder on the nose - all so very appealing. Tension and direction from the get go, this is sleek and slick, dense but such alluring coolness, with crushed stones and blueberries giving minerality as well as juicy acidity providing lift. It’s not out to shine right now, but there’s such confidence on show. Direct, slowly expanding effortlessly as it goes from start to finish, elongating the fine tannic structure that supports but doesn't overwhelm. So poised and refined, charming in a dark, utterly seductive way. Firm, but fruity, cool and calm, coming in waves. One of the wines of the vintage with striking power but delivered so perfectly with everything in balance.
Barrel Sample: 98 -
Wine Spectator
Dark, winey and alluring, this offers a deep well of steeped black currant, blackberry and black cherry paste flavors that are sappy in their intensity. Sweet bay, violet, tobacco and apple wood accents fill in along the way, giving this superb range, while the long, cast iron–edged finish pulls everything to its vanishing point. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An icon of balance and tradition, St. Julien boasts the highest proportion of classed growths in the Médoc. What it lacks in any first growths, it makes up in the rest: five amazing second growth chateaux, two superb third growths and four well-reputed fourth growths. While the actual class rankings set in 1855 (first, second, and so on the fifth) today do not necessarily indicate a score of quality, the classification system is important to understand in the context of Bordeaux history. Today rivalry among the classed chateaux only serves to elevate the appellation overall.
One of its best historically, the estate of Leoville, was the largest in the Médoc in the 18th century, before it was divided into the three second growths known today as Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases, Léoville-Poyferré and Léoville-Barton. Located in the north section, these are stone’s throw from Chateau Latour in Pauillac and share much in common with that well-esteemed estate.
The relatively homogeneous gravelly and rocky top soil on top of clay-limestone subsoil is broken only by a narrow strip of bank on either side of the “jalle,” or stream, that bisects the zone and flows into the Gironde.
St. Julien wines are for those wanting subtlety, balance and consistency in their Bordeaux. Rewarding and persistent, the best among these Bordeaux Blends are full of blueberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco and licorice. They are intense and complex and finish with fine, velvety tannins.