2023 Château Léoville-Las Cases, Cru Classé St-Julien

The 2023 Léoville Las Cases is a wine of understatement and class. In so many vintages, Las Cases is quite authoritative, but I find the 2023 rather quiet and unexpressive today. It’s a rather intellectual Las Cases, a wine with tremendous potential, but also a wine that is quite reserved at this early stage. Time in the glass brings out hints of blueberry, graphite, spice and mocha. It will be interesting to see where this goes. This is a very austere, classically built Las Cases for readers who can be patient.

The 2023 Lascombes marks a new direction for the Chateau. Dark and virile, with real intensity, the 2023 marries richness and energy. Black cherry, lavender, spice, menthol and licorice emerge from the glass. This fleshes out beautifully on the finish, showing terrific breadth and nuance. The 2023 is, without question, the most elegant, finessed Lascombes made in many years. That won't surprise readers familiar with wines here that were often monolithic and one-dimensional. The 2023 will be a fascinating wine to follow. This is also a new chapter for Estate Director Axel Heinz, formerly at Ornellaia, who strikes me as a liberated winemaker these days—someone freed from the burden of expectations. Tasted three times.

The 2023 Léoville Las-Cases was picked from September 9 to October 2 at 43hL/ha and matured in 80% new oak barrels. This has a very precise bouquet, and, like the Clos du Marquis, it is imbued with an attractive estuarine element—aromatics that transport the imbiber to the banks of the Gironde. The oak is neatly integrated; 80% is much more optimal than 100% would have been. The palate is lightly spiced on the entry, moderately deep and quite lively on the mid-palate. This is a more linear Las-Cases than recent vintages, conveying a sense of "seriousness" toward the almost saturnine finish. Impressive in terms of persistence, this is a worthy follow-up to the magnificent 2022, but it will demand patience.

Exceptional quality of cabernet comes through here, with a lot of graphite, lead pencil, crushed stone, walnut and currant fruit. It grows and expands on the palate, remaining in focus at the same time. Refined and seamless with beautiful tannins that show power and intensity. It rolls across the palate with verve. 86% cabernet sauvignon, 10% cabernet franc and 4% merlot.

A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and only 4% Merlot, the 2023 Léoville Las Cases is one of the more serious, structured wines of the vintage, reminiscent of a modern-day version of the estate's excellent 2001. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of cherries, cassis and plums mingled with hints of licorice, mint and creamy new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a taut core of fruit, lively acids and plenty of fine, youthfully firm tannins. It will require and reward patience.