Leoville Las Cases 2008

Super racy and balanced. Masses of licorice and currants, intense aromas. Full and very silky with an intensity of fruit. Reminds me of the 1996. Best after 2015.

Tasted ex-chateau and single blind in Southwold. We opened both bottles of the Chateau Leoville Las-Cases 2008, the first inexplicably missing a little substance but the second much more deserving. This has a very classic, austere bouquet with blackberry, cedar, sous-bois and tobacco. It has fine definition and comes across quite Graves-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, slightly dusty black fruit but with fine delineation towards the long, graphite finish. Tasted January 2012.

A classic style of Las Cases that is somewhat masculine for the vintage, tannic and backward, and less formidably concentrated than the 2009 or 2010, the 2008 needs 7-8 years of cellaring. Dense purple, the aromatics are closed, but with coaxing and aggressive swirling, notes of crushed rock, black currants and some forest floor notes emerge. Impressively built, medium to full-bodied, layered and stunningly concentrated, this is a sleeper vintage for Leoville Las Cases that should improve considerably, given how closed it was the day I tasted it. It is another 30+ year wine from proprietor Jean-Hubert Delon.