Château Léoville Las Cases 1985

A fabulous wine; one of the first great Las Cases. Full-bodied and rich, with the tannins extremely well integrated into an impressive background of fruit. Give it time. — Cabernet Challenge. Best after 2004.

When I first entered wine nearly two decades ago, Leoville Las Cases 1985 was the darling of the trade. It was a wine that delivered every single time you popped the cork. In the time between now and then, it has, apparently, made time stand still and is just as I recall it being every time I've encountered it in the last twenty years. The nose has a wonderful concentration and still shows notes of violets and black fruits. Incredibly closed straight out of the bottle. It is initially quite tight but with great focus. It will happily sit in a decanter for an hour or two to show its best self. The palate is streamlined and long with super-fine tannins that are fully resolved. This is one of the great Bordeaux classics that will, dare I say, still improve in bottle.

The 1985 Léoville Las-Cases is quite simply one of the finest Saint-Julien wines of the decade, and over a dozen encounters have reaffirmed this as the most pleasurable Las-Cases ever made. This is a stupendous bottle, perhaps the best that I have ever encountered. It has a brilliantly defined bouquet that soars from the glass: red berry fruit, crushed stone, pressed flower, a hint of blood orange and woodland aromas. You could nose this all day. The palate is medium-bodied with the depth and structure one expects from this Second Growth. But what the 1985 has in spades, a virtue not always found at this address, is charm. Silky smooth in texture, the pure red fruit seduces the sense with a shimmering sense of energy on the finish. It is drinking now after three decades and based on this showing could give another three before it declines.

One of the stars of the vintage, this is drinking perfectly today. Delivering its wealth of ripe, juicy, crisp, fresh red fruits in its stern, regal, refined, full-bodied character, 30 minutes in the decanter is all this beauty needs to start singing.