Château Léoville Las Cases 1982

A racy, classy, silky wine. Inky-ruby color. Black cherry, mineral and wet earth aromas. Medium-bodied, with very silky tannins and a long, superfine finish. Has always been excellent. — 1982 Bordeaux horizontal.

Beautifully fragrant nose, dried flowers and cedar, iron and salted-caramelised cherries: graceful and understated. Refined palate, sleek yet dense with generous and imposing tannins, yet remaining round and approachable. This has real charm with underlying drive but presented in such a complete and harmonious way; polished and precise with tons of energy. A stunning wine and so easy to drink, full of cherries and red berries with savoury touches of cigar smoke and leather that give a hint of maturity but in no way shout that it's more than 40 years old. Just wonderful. Winemaker was Bruno Rolland, who took over from his father, his grandfather and grand uncle. 5% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

A Parker 100-pointer. Really quite a rich nose. Beautifully intricate and balanced with the tannins – at last! – well in retreat. The best bottle of this wine I have encountered. Dry but not excessively drying finish. I thought for a moment I had a case of this tucked away but it’s actually the 1983. (JR)

The 1982 Léoville Las-Cases was much feted back in the day, with perfect scores commonplace, though over the years I have found it rather curmudgeonly and surpassed by the '86. This has an intriguing bouquet that takes time to cohere, revealing scents of blackberry, leather, loam and light liquorice. The palate is medium-bodied with firm grip, very impressive in terms of structure, with a little more freshness than the bottle three years earlier and a bit more openness and expressiveness. However, it is outperformed by both the Gruaud Larose and the Léoville Poyferré. Tasted single blind at the 1982 dinner at Cornus in London.

It took decades to come around, but today, the wine is a pleasure and a thrill to taste. Elegant, classic, full-bodied, vibrant, and concentrated, the wine displays its black currants, forest floor, cedar wood, lead pencil, and spice nuances with minimal coaxing. Long and intense, with lift and fullness on the palate, a bit of air before serving helps. Drink from 2022–2040.

Tasted at the domaine, the 1982 Leoville Las Cases is just about pure perfection, and while certainly mature, it has plenty of life ahead of it. Thrilling notes of blackcurrants, kirsch, tobacco leaf, cedar box, menthol, and exotic spices all emerge from this seamless, powerful yet magically elegant Leoville Las Cases. Opening up in the glass, with a smoky, singular character, it's an incredible wine from this terroir that has an almost Latour-like regal quality. It should continue drinking well for another 10-15 years and I'm sure will keep even longer.

Gentle bricking around the edges of the glass, rose petals and campfire smoke on the first nose. Elegance personified, the tannins are so fine and the overall body so fresh that the glass itself explains why St Julien is loved the world over. Las Cases can be almost Pauillac-like when young, but as it ages it reconnects with its St Julien character, and here it shows freshly tilled earth, loam, truffles. Very much on its drinking plateau, but the kind of wine that will quietly, unobtrusively deliver for the next two decades or more. Gold, no question. Slight deposit thrown, so I suggest decanting, but for the first few hours after opening I would simply let it stand. 50% new oak. Michel Delon owner.