Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed with blackberries, plums and bark. Lemon-rind undertones. Full-bodied, creamy, velvety and voluptuous yet focused and pinpointed. Intense dark-berry and chocolate flavors. Really well done. Drink in 2021.
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Wine Enthusiast
Rich, ripe, and elegant, this wine comes from a separate parcel of Léoville las Cases that is treated as a distinct wine. With fine, dusty tannins and juicy acidity, it offers both richness and black currants from the Cabernet Sauvignon. It needs to age and should be ready to drink from 2025.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Clos Du Marquis is gorgeous, but one of the more backward, closed wines in the vintage. Made from 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, aged in 50% new oak, it’s deep purple color is followed by promising notes of blackcurrants, smoked earth, tobacco and lead pencil. With full-bodied richness, a ripe, concentrated, structured feel, and impressive length, I wouldn’t touch bottles for at least 7-8 years, and it should last for two decades or more.
Rating: 93+ -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Clos du Marquis gives up expressive notes of warm mulberries, kirsch and blackberry pie with touches of sandalwood, potpourri, anise and charcuterie. The palate is medium to full-bodied with a great core of rich, spicy fruit framed by plush tannins and finishing with an invigorating lift.
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Decanter
First made in 1902, this is a blend of various parcels, some close to Léoville Las Cases, others near Talbot. In this vintage a second wine, La Petite Marquise, was created, strengthening the identity of Clos du Marquis as a fine wine in its own right. Flamboyant and vibrant nose, with juicy blackcurrant fruit. Concentrated and velvety, it nonetheless has power and grip. Tannins are well integrated. Admirable depth of flavour; spicy and persistent finish. Drinking Window 2022 - 2038
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Wine Spectator
Rich, with a beam of mesquite, savory and tea streaking through the red and black currant preserve flavors. Shows good brambly energy through the finish. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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.