2014 Château Léoville Las Cases, St Julien, Bordeaux

Very dark crimson. Intense nose but much lighter and more transparent than Las Cases of old. A little tough at the moment. Dry finish but neither austere nor overdone. Almost delicate – not an adjective I would normally associate with Las Cases.

Drink 2025 - 2040

The 2014 Léoville Las-Cases has a backward nose with the unenviable task of following the Léoville Poyferré. But there is complexity here, more tertiary in style, with autumn leaves and cigar smoke infusing the red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannins, fleshy to the degree that it disguises the backbone. Mouthfilling on the finish that actually reminds me of Léoville Poyferré. Seductive.

Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.

Blueberries, green peppercorns, tobacco, liquorice and purple flowers – a lovely nose. Grippy, tense, tangy and precise, you can feel the St-Julien terroir and the Las Cases touch. It's not necessarily up for easy enjoyment now but there's a lovely sense of class about this. Precise and finessed, balanced acidity, a really stony undercurrent and wet stone grip on the finish. Feels young still, like it hasn't quite relaxed, still compact, but so refined! I love the style, one to wait for. Has cool minty freshness too on the finish which gives a nice lift and makes you want to go back for another sip.

Drink 2024 - 2046

The 2014 Leoville-Las Cases is a blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc and Merlot, cropped at 33 hectoliters per hectare and matured in 85% new oak. There is 6.8% vin de presse this year. Picked between 30 September and 13 October over 12 days. It has a delectable bouquet with very precise, mineral-rich black fruit infused with oyster shell, which appears to be a leitmotif of Jean-Huber Delon's 2014s!

The palate is medium-bodied with wondrous purity and tension, the acidity beautifully poised and imparting the palpable sense of energy from start to finish. Where it really excels is on the finish: exquisite structure, very complex with enormous persistence that lingers for more than a minute. Surely the wine of the appellation, ditto one of the best Left Bank 2014s.

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