Ratings By Robert Parker 88 Tasting Notes Dry tannin and a backward, austere, muscular, brooding personality characterize Leoville Barton’s 1999. However, it is packed with grip, body, and depth. Give it 5-6 years of cellaring and hope the tannin melts away sufficiently for the fruit to come forward. It should last for two decades, but… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 91 Tasting Notes This opaque purple-colored, muscular, full-bodied, classically made St.-Julien displays impressive concentration, chewy, highly-extracted flavors of black fruits, iron, earth, and spicy wood, and a powerful mouth-feel. A pure, uncompromising, traditionally-styled wine, it is to be admired for its authenticity, class, and quality. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2035. Readers seeking classic,… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 86 Tasting Notes The elegant, spice box, cedary, oaky, red and black currant-scented and flavored 1997 Leoville Barton reveals surprising softness, medium body, low acidity, and ripe tannin. Drink it over the next decade. I would not be surprised to see it improve in the bottle, and possibly merit a higher… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 92 Tasting Notes This impressive wine is a classic. Although backward, it exhibits a dense ruby/purple color in addition to abundant black currant fruit intertwined with spicy oak and truffle-like scents. The wine is brilliantly made, full-bodied, and tightly-structured with plenty of muscle and outstanding concentration and purity. It should turn… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 91 Tasting Notes Somewhat closed and reticent after bottling, but still impressive, this 1995 possesses a dark ruby/purple color, as well as an oaky nose with classic scents of cassis, vanillin, cedar, and spice. Dense and medium to full-bodied, with softer tannin and more accessibility than the 1996, but not quite… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 93+ Tasting Notes 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,… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 91+ Tasting Notes 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… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 95 Tasting Notes Not surprisingly, Leoville Las Cases has produced another classic, potentially long-lived wine in 2006. Among the St.-Juliens, it, Ducru Beaucaillou, and Leoville Barton possess the potential for the greatest longevity. Interestingly, when I visited this chateau in January, proprietor Jean-Hubert Delon offered me two samples, one where the… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 98 Tasting Notes Another titanic effort from the Delon family, the 2005 Leoville Las Cases is probably the greatest wine made at this estate since Jean-Hubert Delon??s father produced the 1986 and 1996. Only 37% of the production made it into the 2005, a blend of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with less… Read More »
Ratings By Robert Parker 93 Tasting Notes Performing better from bottle than it did from cask, this blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, and 11% Cabernet Franc has put on weight over the last year. It exhibits the classic style of both Las Cases and St.-Julien in its deep black currant notes interwoven with… Read More »