Leoville Las Cases 2007

Tasted blind at the 2007 Bordeaux horizontal in Southwold. Jean-Hubert Delon’s wine bides its time and is very reticent and primal on the nose: blackberry, raspberry coulis, a touch of leather and cedar. It opens beautifully after five minutes. The palate is medium-bodied with a peppery entry, nicely balanced with blackberry, white pepper, leather and cedar with good persistency towards the sous-bois-tinged finish. Patently great breeding here and once its identity is revealed, I am sure it will repay a decade in the cellar and open up after 5-6 years. Tasted January 2011.

Among the more tannic and backward wines of the vintage, the 2007 is another outstanding effort from this estate. Already somewhat closed, it is a candidate for one of the longest lived wines of the vintage. Beautifully pure black currant and black cherry fruit interwoven with notions of cedar and wood are found in this medium to full-bodied, structured, masculine-styled St.-Julien. The attack reveals sweetness and softness, but then the wine shuts down. It will benefit from 2-3 years of cellaring, and should keep for 15 or more.