critic reviews
High Cabernet Sauvignon in both blend and character - think liquorice, black chocolate, crème de cassis, cloves, incense, creamy blackberry through the mid palate, smoky oak and a cut through of mouthwatering acidity on the finish. Classical, serious, heartstopping. The Dorian Gray of wine was somebody's comment around the table, and it's hard to disagree - barely budged after 16 years, despite opening a good 10 hours before the evening tasting (to be fair, we were tasting from a magnum).
The most powerful wine in this vertical is the 2010 Leoville Las Cases, a full-bodied, deep and multidimensional behemoth redolent of rich berries, cassis, burning embers, pencil shavings and loamy soil. Broad-shouldered, layered and muscular, with huge reserves of concentration and sweet, powdery tannin, it concludes with a broad, resonant finish. This is a prodigious, somewhat imposing Las Cases that is still an infant a decade after bottling.
The 2010 Léoville Las Cases has a clean and precise bouquet, beautifully focused with blackberry, melted tar, cigar humidor and crushed stone aromas. It gains intensity with aeration without ever losing its precision. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, a fine bead of acidity, a sense of abiding symmetry and detail as it fans out on the mineral-driven finish. This is an absolutely awesome Saint-Julien with a long life ahead. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.