Château Léoville Las Cases 2017

A very focused, very pure rendition, laden with cassis, plum reduction and boysenberry puree fruit that is mostly waiting in reserve. A cold cast iron edge imparts a sense of restraint, while smoldering tobacco, charcoal and alder notes are deeply buried on the finish. The opposite of flamboyant. In need of time. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Best from 2025 through 2040. 12,500 cases made.

Rich ruby in colour if a little less inky than the 2015, 2016 or 2018. Clear layers of fruit, the nose is one of the rare ones in the vintage where you want to spend time just thinking about the different strands that are coming at you. Black truffle, liquorice, cinnamon spice, saffron, slate and cigar box all comprise - this is a standout wine in the vintage. They just know how to tease flavour out of the ground at this place. Yes it is closed, not exactly forbidding but certainly austere, with big tannins, but less so than in some vintages at this stage, and it unrolls in the mouth.

The purity here is really something. Blackberries and blackcurrants with sandalwood, mint and other classic herbs. Full-bodied and dense with ultra-fine tannins. Silky in all ways. Goes on for a long, long time. A blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon, 11% cabernet franc and 10% merlot. Joyous and serious wine for the vintage. And comparable to 2014 and 2015. Try after 2023.

79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot. 90% new oak. pH 3.72, IPT 71. Very dark with black core. This invites you in but doesn't say much in terms of aroma. It is dark, intense and sober at heart but with flashes of colour to suggest a future revelation. Super-fine texture, so much finer than I remember earlier vintages, especially at this young age. Seems almost delicate already but has amazing and effortless concentration. Already elegant. And unexpectedly juicy on the finish. Very very long. Fruit purity persists to the end. (JH)

It is not often you can use the word fruity to describe Leoville Las Cases but it is certainly fitting for 2017. Yes, the wine is fruity! And in addition you’ll find complexities of licorice, cigar box and lead pencil with tannins so refined it’s almost precocious. The fruit is airy and bright with a sweetness that carries through from start to finish. This is the perfect vintage to enjoy while waiting for the bigger, more tannic vintages to come around. The wine was made from a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot, reaching 13.28% ABV with a pH of 3.72. The harvest took place from September 15 to October 4 and the wine was made from 60% of the harvest. It is not often you can use the word fruity to describe Leoville Las Cases but it is certainly fitting for 2017. Yes, the wine is fruity! And in addition you’ll find complexities of licorice, cigar box and lead pencil with tannins so refined it’s almost precocious. The fruit is airy and bright with a sweetness that carries through from start to finish. This is the perfect vintage to enjoy while waiting for the bigger, more tannic vintages to come around. The wine was made from a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot, reaching 13.28% ABV with a pH of 3.72. The harvest took place from September 15 to October 4 and the wine was made from 60% of the harvest.

Deep dark ruby, violet glints, faintly lighter at the rim. Finely fragrant nuances of blackberry, cassis, and mild notions of liquorice, mineral touch. Complex, juicy black cherries, ripe tannins that are very well integrated, fresh acidity, lemony, and delicate red berry touches on the finish. A seamlessly and above all vibrant style, with stimulating, delicate chocolate nuanced reverberations.

The grand vin 2017 Chateau Leoville Las Cases checks in as 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Merlot, harvested between the 15th of September and the 4th of October. Brought up in 90% new French oak, it has an incredibly classic style that carries loads of creme de cassis, crushed rock, graphite, and smoked tobacco-like aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, concentrated, elegant Las Cases that has fine tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It shows the refined, regal style of this estate, has beautiful richness and depth, and is going to drink nicely with just 5-7 years of bottle age.

This is a vintage that, like 1997, just might give you a chance of enjoying a bottle of Las Cases before the 20 year mark, and shows the hint of smoked caramel on the nose that you get in the lighter years. A kick of oyster shell salinity runs through the palate, helping to lift the wine out of the glass, alive with orange zest, mandarin peel, safffron, and crayon alongside the cassis and lighter redcurrant fruits. Atypical for Las Cases, but retaining clear St Julien signature.

The 2017 Leoville Las Cases is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Merlot and has a deep garnet-purple color. It needs a lot of coaxing to uncover notes of crushed black cherries, warm cassis, and mulberries, plus touches of underbrush, pencil shavings, and dried lavender, with a hint of crushed rocks. Light to medium-bodied, the palate is exquisitely fine-knit, with wonderfully nuanced, delicate black fruit and mineral layers, supported by ripe, plush tannins, finishing with a lingering quiet intensity.

Incredibly approachable, yet uncompromising in its expression of terroir and its ability to age. The fruit is magnificently ripe for the year, with a superb texture and a uniquely refined finish. The pinnacle of the vintage.

You’ll find everything that makes Las Cases so outstanding here, namely its pedigree! This seemingly soft wine has a lot in reserve and will truly come into its own in a decade.

A complex, dense wine—juicy, sapid and taut—with a fine acidic backbone, round, polished tannins and a very long finish.