2017 Château Léoville Las Cases

Description

98+   Lisa Perrotti-Brown
“This comes from 50- to 90-year-old vines and is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot with 13.28% alcohol, 3.72 pH and an IPT of 71. The 2017 Léoville Las Cases is deep garnet-purple in color, and wow, the nose bursts with beautiful blackcurrant cordial, blackberry pie and blueberry preserve notes followed by hints of lilacs, dark chocolate, cedar chest, sassafras and licorice with emerging wafts of oolong tea, lavender and iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is an exercise in elegance and soft-spoken nuances within a mouth-coating palate of almost electric black and blue fruits, framed by very firm, exquisitely ripe, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing epically long and wonderfully perfumed. Damn, that’s good.” (3/2020)

98   James Suckling
“The purity here is really something. Blackberries and blackcurrants with sandalwood, mint and other classic herbs. Full-bodied and dense with ultra-fine tannins. Silky in all ways. Goes on for a long, long time. A blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot. Joyous and serious wine for the vintage. And comparable to 2014 and 2015.” (1/2020)

97   Jane Anson
“One of the very few wines in this vintage that truly stains the glass with its wonderfully vibrant anthocyanins. This is an exceptional wine – Léoville just knows how to knock it out of the park again and again. An early vintage meant everything was blended and in barrels before Christmas, with 7.5% press wine, so this has had some time to settle down already. There’s huge persistency through the palate, very similar to last year. It has presence and a grip that doesn’t want to let go, and you don’t want it to either. It continues to reveal itself over the course of the glass, showing slate, cassis, blackberry and charcoal. It’s not as powerfully knitted as the 2016, but watch out for those tannins. I expect this will be a wine that, like the 1996 and 2016, will close down and evolve extremely slowly. Stunning aromatics. 90% new oak.” (4/2018)

97   Jeb Dunnuck
“The grand vin 2017 Chateau Leoville Las Cases checks in as 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Merlot, harvested between the 15th of September and the 4th of October. Brought up in 90% new French oak, it has an incredibly classic style that carries loads of creme de cassis, crushed rock, graphite, and smoked tobacco-like aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, concentrated, elegant Las Cases that has fine tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It shows the refined, regal style of this estate, has beautiful richness and depth, and is going to drink nicely with just 5-7 years of bottle age.” (2/2020)

96   Roger Voss for Wine Enthusiast –CELLAR SELECTION
“The watchword for this wine is style. Tannins underline the fruit. This rich structure, while not losing the swaths of berry flavors and crisp black currants, presents the balance between the ripeness and freshness of the vintage.” *Cellar Selection* (3/2020)

96   James Molesworth for Wine Spectator — COLLECTIBLES
“A very focused, very pure rendition, laden with cassis, plum reduction and boysenberry puree fruit that is mostly waiting in reserve. A cold cast iron edge imparts a sense of restraint, while smoldering tobacco, charcoal and alder notes are deeply buried on the finish. The opposite of flamboyant. In need of time.” *Collectibles* (3/2020)