Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the considerable talents of the Léoville Las Cases team, the 2016 Clos du Marquis is made from 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc that was raised in 60% new French oak. This full-bodied, concentrated, incredibly elegant Saint Julien has the purity and balance that’s the hallmark of the vintage as well as loads of underlying structure and depth. Great notes of ripe black cherries, blackcurrants, spring flowers, and graphite all emerge from this beauty, which is going to be one for the ages. It will need 8-10 years of cellaring and keep for three decades.
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James Suckling
This has a very suave, fresh and upbeat feel overall, with freshly baked berry pastry and ripe raspberry, boysenberry and red-plum aromas in abundance. The palate has a superb array of rich, fresh and deeply fruited tannins that roll smoothly into the elegant, focused and perfectly balanced finish. Try from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Clos du Marquis has a very deep garnet-purple color and is a little broody to begin, giving way to notes of crushed blackcurrants and black cherries with touches of warm plums, pencil shavings, earth and new leather with a waft of yeast extract. Medium-bodied with a rock-solid frame of grainy tannins, it has bold fruit matched by freshness, finishing long and mineral laced.
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Wine Spectator
This has a plush edge of warm tar and ganache that slowly melds into the core of steeped plum and cassis flavors as they move through, picking up smoldering charcoal and graphite notes along the way. A very grounded wine that will age nicely. Best from 2023 through 2038.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is dense with dark tannins as well as the elegance associated with the appellation. It comes from a vineyard that has been separated out from the Léoville las Cases estate. Packed with tannins as well as blueberry and blackberry fruits, the wine will develop well over several years. Drink from 2023.
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Decanter
From 18-55-year-old vines just outside the walled clos of Léoville. This is rich, with great depth and weight, showing lovely St-Julien balance and elegance in its pencil-lead and savoury cassis flavours. It's very well judged and extremely accomplished, displaying a touch of austerity on the finish. Very good quality.
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.