Léoville Las Cases 2011

***Rated 10 in the top 100 WS wines of 2014***This has some toast to shed, but retains a terrific core of crushed plum and blackberry confiture. Has a beautiful ripple of charcoal for texture, honest acidity for balance and a bolt of iron that keeps this firmly grounded. A brick-house Cabernet. Best from 2018 through 2030.

There are black fruits and red fruits on the nose an attractive complexity of flavour. Cassis and black cherry enriches the mid palate supported by firm tannins. There is richness sweetness of fruit towards the back but a slight lack of concentration and length.

I tasted this twice during en primeur week, and I am convinced that it is one of the wines of the vintage, just as it was in 2007, another tricky harvest. It's a thick, sinewy, tightly structured red with concentrated mocha and black fruits surrounded by powerful but finely realised tannins. A little less extracted than Las Cases can often be in its youth, but this is still a serious and very classy claret. 12+ years.

Dense colour, nose still shut in yet the richness is there and the fruit will come out, a real statement of vineyard style, a superb long-term wine. Drink 2020-2050.

One of the thrilling successes of the vintage is, not surprisingly, the 2011 Leoville Las Cases. Analytically, this ripe wine has statistical numbers that are almost identical to their 2010. The fruit was cropped at 27 hectoliters per hectare, the wine aged in 80% new French oak, and the final blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc came in at 13.4% natural alcohol. It boasts an opaque inky/purple color along with gloriously pure aromas of creme de cassis, black raspberries, vanillin and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied with abundant glycerin and ripe but noticeable tannin, this beauty is potentially one of the longest lived and finest wines of the vintage. It should be drinkable in 5-6 years and last for 2-3 decades.

The Grand Vin is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc cropped at just 27hl/ha and raised in 80% new oak. It has a comparatively opulent bouquet compared to its peers with sumptuous blackberry, wild strawberry, minerals and cedar, offering touches of Margaux-like floral notes with continued aeration. The palate is full-bodied with good grip and is certainly a Saint Julien with great substance considering the vintage although it does not quite fan out on the finish a la 2009 or 2010. But it is very composed and well balanced with some very pure blackberry, boysenberry and spicy notes lingering long in the mouth. Excellent. Tasted April 2012.

Intense aromas of currants and blackberries with minerals. Full body, with a serious density for the vintage, and racy tannin and acidity. It goes on very long. Reminds me a little of 1996. Very classic style.