2022 Leoville Las Cases
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Tasting Notes
The 2022 Léoville Las Cases is unlike any other in recent times – indeed, the hot and dry summer at the property prompted the team to liken it to 1870. Exceptionally fragrant, aromas of cassis and violet stand out on the nose. There’s a weightless quality to the wine as it glides across the palate. Medium-to full-bodied, the concentration of fruit coupled with such balanced acidity is quite unusual at this youthful stage of life – and for such a warm year. This Las Cases is a sleeping beauty that will require time in bottle to reveal its full potential.
Critic Scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
James Suckling
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Looking at the Grand Vin 2022 Château Léoville Las Cases, it has an almost Pauillac-like style in its ripe, powerful aromatics of graphite, lead pencil shavings, cassis, and liquid rock-like minerality. Full-bodied, massively concentrated, and powerful on the palate, it nevertheless stays flawlessly balanced, has just about off-the-charts purity, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. This will clearly rank with the truly greats from this address and reminds me slightly of a mix of the 2016 and 2018. It is not, however, going to be for those looking for instant gratification.
Inky in color, the wine is all about its full-body, intensity, levels of concentration, and sense of purity. The wine starts off with violets, cassis, blackberries, Cuban cigar wrapper, ash, smoke, licorice, and mint. On the palate, the levels of concentration are readily apparent. Yet, even with all its depth of flavor, there is refinement, lift, and complexity that requires time and effort to unfurl. The fruit is uncommonly rich in the mid-palate the tannins are strong, ripe and firm. The seamless finish, with its wall of rich, black and blue fruit hits the 60 second mark with ease. As always, Leoville Las Cases requires bottle aging. But, with 2022, my guess is the wine will start to shine after a decade of age, evolving and improving for 40-50 years with ease. Produced from a blend 83.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10.5% Cabernet Franc and 6% Merlot. 14.25% ABV. 3.80 pH. Harvesting took place September 8 - September 30. Yields were 36 hectoliters per hectare. This is only the second time in the history of the estate that you find more Cabernet Franc than Merlot in the blend. Drink from 2030-2065
One of the wines of the vintage this year is the 2022 Léoville Las Cases, a monument in the making that combines unerring classicism with unusual sensuality and charm by the standards of this estate's sometimes youthfully forbidding wines. Exhibiting deep aromas of dark berries, violets, pencil lead, rose petals and tobacco leaf, it's full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with terrific concentration, beautiful purity of fruit, abundant but refined tannins and a long, vibrant finish. On the several occasions that I tasted it, the 2022 was surprisingly open for a young Las Cases, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were to shut down after a few years in bottle. It's a blend of 83.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10.5% Cabernet Franc and 6% Merlot.
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About the producer
One of the leading estates in Bordeaux, Ch. Léoville Las Cases is one of the largest and oldest Classed Growths in the Médoc. Along with Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou, it is widely considered one of the best estates in Saint-Julien.