Chateau Leoville Las Cases   Leoville Las Cases

2010 Leoville Las Cases

By Chateau Leoville Las Cases

2010 Leoville Las Cases from Chateau Leoville Las Cases, St-Julien, Bordeaux

As an observer of Bordeaux's symphony of vintages for over four decades, one finds that certain years sing more memorably. The 2010 Leoville Las Cases from Chateau Leoville Las Cases is a virtuoso performance deserving a standing ovation. Crafted in Saint-Julien, this offering is testament to the magical alchemy between terroir and human artistry.

 

A Vintage That Dances to a Distinct Rhythm

The hymn of 2010 in St-Julien trumpets a season of exemplary climatic conditions, culminating in a composition that proffers both structure and longevity in its architectural depth. This specific vintage of the storied Leoville Las Cases is a cornucopia of finesse intertwined with an intricate robustness — a telltale sign of a great investment-grade wine.

 

Ballet of Elegance and Power

The 2010 Leoville Las Cases articulately echoes the chorus of its extraordinary year. Each sip unravels the layered nuances of dark fruits, interlaced with touches of almost architectural tannins and minerality akin to the chiselled gravitas of St-Julien itself. A crescendo of blackcurrant, graphite and hints of cigar box sing through, further elevating its noble pedigree and promising an extended cellar life.

An interpreter of soil and season, this vintage exhibits discernible strength and poise; traits that marry well with the strategic savouriness inherent to tartaric artefacts. Reflective of its St-Julien roots, it boasts an athleticism poised between muscularity and grace — an ethos splendidly captured in this vintage.

In the theatre of fine wine investment, where narratives unfold in whispers of potentiality and proclamations of brilliance, the 2010 Leoville Las Cases resounds with clarity. As investors seek out exceptional vintages that strike balance between appreciative endurance and taste, this masterwork compels consideration.

Suffice it to say, for connoisseurs looking to diversify their portfolio with Bordeaux's liquid treasures, the articulate harmonies and investment allure of the 2010 Leoville Las Cases from Chateau Leoville Las Cases, with its symphonic blend of vigour and complexity, presents an unmissable opportunity. It is a paramount expression emblematic of the St-Julien terroir under ideal climatic influences — one that invites reflection on past triumphs as it promises to age into future splendour.

Current market price

£2,310.00

12x75cl

Highest score

99

POP score

121.58

Scores and tasting notes

99

The aromas to this wine have a beautiful purity of raspberries, blueberries, currants, and flowers that follow to a a full body, with super integrated tannins that are like the finest silk in texture. It shows elegant and pretty fruit character and a reserve and finesse of such great years as 1989 and 1995. The bright strong acidity gives a crunchy and creamy texture. This has a tiny bit more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend than 2009. Give it at least six to eight years of bottle age.

James Suckling - jamessuckling.com, November 14th 2013

98

Tasted at the chateau. The aromatics on the Leoville Las-Cases 2010 stop you in your tracks: blackberry married with dark plum, Mirabelle, crushed stone and a scent of Christmas cake in the background. It is incredibly well defined and develops subtle floral notes with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied – an immediately elegant, classic Las Cases. It is certainly not the powerhouse that is the 2009, but focused, linear...perhaps athletic and honed. It has outstanding minerality and finesse on the finish to die for. This is an exceptional wine from Jean-Hubert Delon. Tasted November 2012.

Neal Martin - Wine Journal Mar 2013

97

Blended of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet colored 2010 Léoville Las Cases delivers tons of evolving black fruits on the nose with notes of crème de cassis, prunes and incense plus wafts of cloves, cedar, cigar box and powdered cinnamon. Full-bodied, rich, bold and decadently fruited, it has a solid frame of grainy tannins, and the oak is faintly notable on the palate. It finishes impressively with long-lingering mineral notes. This one probably needs 3-5 more years to really hit its stride!

Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Advocate, 5 March 2020

96+

The 2010 is a quintessentially elegant, classic wine of Bordeaux – firm, rigid, perhaps slightly lighter than most of the other St.-Juliens, but stylish, potentially complex, and reminiscent of the style of the 1986, but more concentrated and powerful. It is a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc with a normal pH of 3.56. It was raised in 75% new oak and the alcohol came to 13.7%. This wine displays loads of black currants, cedar wood and vanillin, but needs a good 7-8 years of cellaring, if not much longer. It should last for 30+ years. What I like about tasting at Las Cases is that Jean-Hubert Delon opens one bottle in my presence, and has another already decanted four hours in advance to compare. It is nearly unanimous on each visit that the decanted wine shows better, which probably gives you some insight into the aging potential of Las Cases. It is certainly one of Bordeaux's longest-lived wines, and seems to have more and more of a character resembling Lafite Rothschild more than its nearby neighbor, Chateau Latour.

Robert Parker Jr - Wine Advocate #194 May 2011

Vintage performance