Château Léoville Las Cases 2014

Perfectly represents the distinctive style of Las Cases: dense, even robust, angular but without harshness, showing immense aromatic potential and great length.

Densely packed, with cassis, steeped plum and blackberry coulis notes that are compressed with layers of cold charcoal and graphite. Very pure, giving this a long, sleek and racy feel, while an iron underpinning drives the finish. Best from 2020 through 2040. 12,500 cases made.

Blueberries, green peppercorns, tobacco, liquorice and purple flowers – a lovely nose. Grippy, tense, tangy and precise, you can feel the St-Julien terroir and the Las Cases touch. It's not necessarily up for easy enjoyment now but there's a lovely sense of class about this. Precise and finessed, balanced acidity, a really stony undercurrent and wet stone grip on the finish. Feels young still, like it hasn't quite relaxed, still compact, but so refined! I love the style, one to wait for. Has cool minty freshness too on the finish which gives a nice lift and makes you want to go back for another sip.

I love the nose of blackberries, blueberries, flowers and citrus. Hints of stones and wet earth. Full body and ultra-fine tannins that are so long and seamless. Incredible length. A wine that you want to drink now.

The 2014 Léoville Las-Cases has a backward nose with the unenviable task of following Léoville Poyferré. But there is complexity here, more tertiary in style, with autumn leaves and cigar smoke infusing the red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannins, fleshy enough to disguise the backbone. Mouthfilling on the finish that actually reminds me of Léoville Poyferré. Seductive. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.

One of the top wines from the 2014 vintage, the color shows a deep ruby hue. On the nose, you already find notes of cassis, pencil lead, and forest floor. On the palate, this full-bodied wine delivers round tannins, fresh red fruits, and a nice bite of juicy cassis on the finish. The freshness, with a leafy component, is a very pleasant sensation at the end. For a good-quality vintage of Leoville Las Cases, it will drink well relatively young, meaning that perhaps just a decade or slightly more will be ample time for the wine to open up and reveal its complexities.

Less exuberant than some of its neighbours, as you might expect, but no less exceptional. Very much in the estate signature, demanding attention but expecting you to wait and pay homage until it is ready to speak. Give it time to unveil its muscular, concentrated cassis and bilberry fruits, punctuated by crushed mint leaf, crayon and liquorice bud. Huge depth through the mid-palate, serious, structured, very much in the estate signature, showcasing the idea of it being a wine that is Burgundian in its balance of frustration and delight. Huge potential, but as I said last time I tasted it around a year ago, for now it's not giving much away. 50% new oak.

Beautifully tight texture, great character, exceptional finesse—everything one could hope for.

With an impressive depth of fruit and, above all, a freshness on the palate that gives it real brightness, this 2014 is a Las Cases of great refinement, carried through by a tremendous finish.

A nose already evolving toward secondary aromas of wilted roses, paprika, and fern. On the palate, the aromatic core is clear and juicy, with spicy, orange-tinged notes of mature fruit, and an acid backbone that becomes increasingly present on the long, floral finish.