2021 LE PETIT LION ST JULIEN - 6x75cl

Tasting Notes

• 

  Neal Martin, April 2022,
  Score: 90-92

  The 2021 Le Petit Lion represents one-third of the production from the Clos de Léoville. It is raised 40% new oak. It has a bright bouquet, a mixture of blackberry and blueberry fruit, fine delineation, quite floral and Margaux-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy, slightly chalky tannins on the entry, a fine salinity here that, for me, marks it out against the La Petite Marquise with quite a persistent tail on the finish. Just needs 2-3 years in bottle. Alcohol level is 13.27% here.

• 

  Wine Advocate, April 2022,
  Score: 88-90+

  The 2021 Le Petit Lion unwinds in the glass with aromas of cassis, plums, loamy soil and cigar wrapper. Medium to full-bodied, impressively deep and lively, with powdery tannins and a saline finish, it's the usual mix of mainly young-vine Cabernet Sauvignon and old-vine, less optimally exposed Merlot in a block that borders Latour.

• 

  Antonio Galloni, May 2022,
  Score: 92-94

  The 2021 Le Petit Lion is a wine of real breath and textural intensity. Black cherry, plum, leather, spice, menthol, licorice and graphite all build in the glass. The Petit Lion has the potential to be one of the Sleepers of the vintage. It has all the class and breadth of its bigger sibling, but in miniature. I loved it.

• 

  Goedhuis, April 2022,
  Score: 90-92

  Cropped at a healthy 34hl/ha, the Petit Lion has a very inviting fruit driven nose of ripe aromatic blackberry, blueberry and creme de mure, wrapped in french oak. The palate has a supple, gentle entry, with a really really smooth mouthfeel, almost sweetly ripe there is lots of pure plum and blackberry notes. This is really accessible, backed by fine ripe tannins, solidly impressive. The finish is ever so bitter to counterbalance that ripeness. Drink 2025-2040

• 

  Jane Anson, April 2022,
  Score: 91

  Clear tannic frame, plenty of interest and impact, with rough hewn slate and graphite, along with cassis and blueberry fruits. Not quite the magical wine that it is in the best vintages but this has concentration and grip, and has recognisable estate signature. Harvest September 24 through to October 4. 3.54ph. No chaptilisation, but reverse osmosis. 40% new oak.

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Producer

Château Léoville Las Cases

If ever another wine gets promoted to first growth category, Léoville Les Cases will undoubtedly bethe one. Owned by the Delon family, this château is comprised of 97 hectares of vineyards. However,unlike most of its Médoc neighbours, it only uses the vineyards classified in the original 1855 classification, an area called "Le Grand Enclos", to make its grand vin.