2010 Grand Vin de Leoville

A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc raised in 75% new oak, the 2010 Château Leoville Las Cases is still tight and inward, with a medium to full-bodied, focused, concentrated, regal style. Classic deep currants, green tobacco, graphite, and freshly sharpened pencil notes all define the bouquet, and it's beautifully balanced, has a ripe yet elegant mouthfeel, plenty of tannins, and outstanding length. I don't see this matching the 2000 or 2005, but it's still an absolutely brilliant, quintessential Las Cases that needs another decade of bottle age to hit the early stages of its prime drinking window and will see its 75th birthday in fine form. Drink 2036-2085.

The most powerful wine in this vertical is the 2010 Léoville Las Cases, a full-bodied, deep and multidimensional behemoth redolent of rich berries, cassis, burning embers, pencil shavings and loamy soil. Broad-shouldered, layered and muscular, with huge reserves of concentration and sweet, powdery tannin, it concludes with a broad, resonant finish. This is a prodigious, somewhat imposing Las Cases that is still an infant a decade after bottling.

The 2010 Léoville Las Cases has a clean and precise bouquet, beautifully focused with blackberry, melted tar, cigar humidor and crushed stone aromas. It gains intensity with aeration without ever losing its precision. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, a fine bead of acidity, a sense of abiding symmetry and detail as it fans out on the mineral-driven finish. This is an absolutely awesome Saint-Julien with a long life ahead. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.