2024 Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Julien

Complex, refined and truly mineral, this has natural vibrancy and freshness as well as excellent depth. Light midpalate concentration but also no sweetness at all. Medium- to full-bodied with chalky, stony tannins and a long, very tense finish. A vintage of delicacy and finesse. If you seek less alcohol and less power, this will be a great year to buy. 84% cabernet sauvignon, 11% cabernet franc and 5% merlot.

Juicy black currants, blackberries, Cuban cigar, cedar, and notes of crème de cassis fill the perfume. On the palate, the wine is long, vibrant, clean, and pure. There is a stately elegance to the currant-filled profile, with layers of blackberries and black cherries adding to its character. Firm, reserved, and refined, the fruits are fresh, boasting a classic profile, but classic in the best way. As always, Leoville Las Cases requires bottle aging. However, for Las Cases, this will be easy to taste with just about 5 years of age and should positively evolve for decades. This is in clear contention for wine of the vintage. Produced from a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Merlot, 13.1% ABV. Harvesting took place September 30 – October 9. Only 55% of the harvest was placed into the Grand Vin. Drink from 2030-2060.

Vivid and intense purple colour to the rim. Fragrant rosehip, violets and iris notes, deep and somewhat seductive in terms of aromatics. Supple and alive, the energy here is amazing. Tannins are chalky and filling, immediately covering the mouth with the clean and pure fruit underneath. This is quite massy still, but I love that it’s not at all too lean and focussed. More wide and approachable than some with a cola and liquorice and wet stone element. Chewy, ripe, concentrated and fun. Much less serious than I was expecting, so well crafted with a real element of drinkability and freshness. Not thick or rich, but there’s enough flesh to fill the palate. Ageing 18 months, 75% new barrels. 6.3% press. 3.60pH.

One of the wines of the vintage, and certainly one that's likely to number among the longest-lived, is the 2024 Léoville Las Cases, a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot that attained 13.1% alcohol. Unwinding in the glass with a pure, intense bouquet of cassis, violets and pencil shavings, it's medium to full-bodied, with terrific mid-palate density and concentration but also a seamless integration of tannin and acidity that's especially rare this year, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. Jean-Hubert Delon observes that the 2024 shares "the aromas and flavors of the 1986," defined by Cabernet Sauvignon ripened at the end of the growing season, though of course the 2024, lacking the huge power and structure of that vintage, is much more amiable than the 1986.

The 2024 Léoville Las-Cases is gorgeous. All the Las-Cases signatures are present, just dialed down a touch. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, grilled herbs, graphite and menthol are all beautifully delineated. The 2024 is distinguished by its precision and total class. Time in the glass brings out the wine's intensely floral, spice-inflected aromatics. Brisk acids and bracing mineral notes wrap it all together in style. I can't wait to taste this from bottle.

The 2024 Château Léoville Las Cases is another incredibly classy wine from this team. It's a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Merlot, coming in at 13.1% natural alcohol and aging in 75% new barrels. Cassis, spicy oak, graphite, and tobacco all emerge on the nose, and it's medium-bodied on the palate, with a focused, elegant mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and the notable yet integrated acidity that marks the vintage. Complete and layered, this elegant Las Cases brings to mind the great vintages of the 1980s and 1990s. It will benefit from just a few years in bottle, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it evolve for decades.

Medium to full intensity, vivid plum with vibrant violet around the rim, ink, black tea, chamomile flowers, slate, graphite, redcurrant, rose petals, cassis, bilberry, raspberry leaf, delivers the texture, tension and complexity that you expect from this level of estate in any vintage, and it is a success, reserved, slim and savoury with ageing potential. Arnaud Delon now at the estate, working alongside his father Jean-Hubert Delon. 31hl/ha yield. New cellars now in operation for the winemaking, 75% new oak. 3.60 pH. 31 hl/ha. 6.3% press wine. Harvest 30 September to 9 October.

The 2024 Léoville Las Cases was picked between September 30 and October 9 at 31 hl/ha (compare that to 11 hl/ha next door at Latour!). It is aged for 18 months in 75% new oak barrels with 6.3% pressed wine. It has a backward, almost surly bouquet with introverted black fruit, cedar, touches of cumin and light sea spray scents. Superb delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with less structure than the last two vintages, yet it upholds wonderful balance with lace-like tannins. With crisp black fruit and beautifully assimilated new oak, this fans out towards the finish. It is paradoxically a more conservative Las Cases in keeping with the limitations of the growing season, but I suspect it will gain weight and sustain with time in barrel.

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot. 31 hl/ha. Cask sample. Deep crimson. Fragrant nose and palate with dark-fruit, graphite and floral notes. Fairly solid structure, the tannins long and finely edged. Acidity as well so ‘classic’ and digeste . Powerful within the context of the vintage. (JL)

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot. 31 hl/ha. Cask sample.

Deep crimson. Fragrant nose and palate with dark-fruit, graphite and floral notes. Fairly solid structure, the tannins long and finely edged. Acidity as well so ‘classic’ and digeste. Powerful within the context of the vintage. (JL)

13.1% Drink 2032 – 2050