chateau leoville las cases 2eme cru classe st julien

Château Léoville Las Cases, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien, 2003

Name: Château Léoville Las Cases, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien
Brand: Château Léoville Las Cases
Price: 1955.47 GBP

96/100

Inside Bordeaux

92/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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in bond

Broking

2003
12x75cl
DP
£1,955.47

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

The 2003 is a huge wine. It is one of the best of recent years, and although many Bordelais we spoke to drew parallels between 2003 and the greatest vintages in living memory, it doesn’t quite compete with the prodigious 2000, but it does put on a great show. The nose is closed, brooding, but the fruit delivery on the palate is immediate and very weighty, the structure substantial. Thanks to the high proportion of clay subsoils found within the property’s walled vineyards, there is clarity of Merlot fruit in the wine’s core, with some spicy flavours. The predominance of cabernets delivers immense power and structure, classic blackcurrant fruit, great finesse and length of flavour. A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc, cropped at 21hl/ha and put into 60% new oak, with the Grand Vin making up 54% of the property’s total production. 13% abv.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

92/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2003 Léoville Las-Cases, a year when they green harvested, has an enticing bouquet with red fruit, orange rind, tobacco and loamy scents, gaining confidence with aeration (decanting really benefits this wine). The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, quite strict for a 2003, but with adequate freshness and a grippy, cigar box-infused and persistent finish. This is an impressive showing, and at 20 years, it will give another 20 years of drinking pleasure, unlike many of its peers. Tasted at the château.

drinking window 2023 - 2045

date of review 08/2023

96/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

I am loving classified Pauillac and St Julien from this vintage right now, and Las Cases doesn't disappoint. Its texture is all satin and velvet, with waves of spiced turmeric and cloves, brambled blackcurrant, blueberry, pomegranate, passion fruit, liqourice and crushed rock, with orange rind freshness that gives a kick and a shiver of electricity. Grip and freshness, still full of life. A record temperature of 48C clocked in at the estate's weather station during the baking summer of 2003, with over 50 days when it never dropped below 30C even during the night. 50% new oak, 3.62ph, harvest September 11 to 26, Jean-Hubert Delon owner.

drinking window 2023 - 2040

date of review 01/2023

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

St Julien

Producer:

Château Léoville Las Cases

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Cab Sauvignon Merlot

abv:

13.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.