Tasting Notes
Goedhuis,
April 2016, Score: 94-96
A wine of huge concentration, depth and, most importantly of all, polish. This is an outstanding Las Cases with 85% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a wonderfully layered wine, focusing on dark cassis fruit, with hints of liquorice and black toffee. It balances a touch of St Julien grace and sweetness, with the typically bold structure that one expects from this fine château marching alongside its neighbour, the great Ch Latour.
Neal Martin,
April 2016,
Score: 95-97
The 2015 Leoville Las-Cases has the highest Cabernet contents in recent years, 85% and 9% of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc respectively, partly because some of the old Merlot vines were blended into the deuxième vin. Picked between 22 September and 9 October, a total of 15 days picking, it will be matured in 85% new oak. The alcohol level is 13.8%, higher than 2010 for example. Jean-Hubert Delon has crafted an extremely pure and tensile bouquet, almost pixelated with blackberry, briary, slate and oyster shell aromas that blossom in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied, svelte and sensual on the entry, the tannins a little edgy with a gentle crescendo: black fruit, tons of minerals, real focus and precision towards the finish. This is a superlative Léoville Las-Cases with the substance to suggest long-term aging will be repaid.
Jancis Robinson,
April 2016,
Score: 17.5
85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot 9% Cabernet Franc - highest proportion of Cab ever. 85% new barrels.
More voluptuous nose than some earlier vintages. Bone-dry finish. Pretty concentrated and with some richness. Solid and mineral but not (quite) as obdurate as it used to be. Fruit and ink combo. Minerals like Pauillac on the end. Grabs the attention. 13.85%
Drink 2027-2040
Wine Spectator,
April 2016,
Score: 94-97
Very tightly focused, with both charcoal and iron harnessing the core of dark currant and blackberry fruit flavors. Sleek in feel, but not for lack of depth, as this is brimming with dark fruit and terroir, just in a more austere fashion.
James Suckling,
April 2016,
Score: 96-97
This is an ethereal young wine with blackberry and violet aromas and flavors. Full body, very firm and silky tannins and a superb finish. Lovely length and purity to this. 85% cabernet sauvignon, 6% merlot and 9% cabernet franc.
Antonio Galloni,
April 2016,
Score: 95-98
A vivid, mesmerizing wine, the 2015 Léoville Las Cases is stunning in its beauty. Unusually rich and sumptuous for Las Cases, the 2015 possesses magnificent intensity and power from start to finish. Blackberry jam, charcoal, smoke, licorice and asphalt are some of the many notes that take shape in the glass, but the 2015 truly stands out for its vertical structure and overall intensity. At the same time, the 2015 is an unusually ripe, exotic Las Cases with much more flesh and voluptuousness in its curves than is the norm. In that sense, the 2015, is not at all typical for Las Cases. And yet it is striking. The 14.5% alcohol is the highest recorded here.
Decanter,
April 2016,
Score: 96
At 94% (85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Cabernet Franc) this is the highest-ever Cab content in this grand vin. Very dense at first but full of power and elegance, with lots of energy. Beautifully made, and seems more Pauillac than St-Julien. This will be a very great wine.
Matthew Jukes,
April 2016,
Score: 19.5++
(85 Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 Cabernet Franc, 6 Merlot) | 85% new oak. | 13.8% alc. | 76 IPT.
This is the highest ever alcohol levels at Las Cases (mainly because Cabernet was harvested at 13.5%) and also the highest combined Cabernet percentage ever of 94%. Pierre Graffeuille, commercial director, explained that less and less Merlot will be used here in the future because of global warming. I had to take a deep breath several times while tasting this wine because it not only possesses extraordinary intensity balanced with extraordinary weightlessness but the sheer style and panache here is shocking. Utterly sublime in every way this is a tour de force for Las Cases. The tannins are immense but also fit and lithe and there is, once again, the dramatic spiciness from the July heat spike which seems to joust with the ultra-fine tannins coming from the stunningly ripe skins. The aroma alone is worth the entry fee. This is a truly great wine.
Tim Atkin,
May 2016,
Score: 94
Two records set here: the highest ever percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon and the highest alcohol level at 13.8! This is a ripe style, but has the classic Las-Cases backbone, with cassis and fruitcake notes, fine tannins and excellent oak integration. Drink: 2023-32