Château Léoville Las Cases 2019

Tasted on 05/14/2020 by Yves Beck 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc Purplish purple. Another one of those great wines that is able to take me out of my comfort zone. Not because I have a problem with him but because he reminds me that sometimes it only takes a split second to understand greatness. Without demonstration, without long tasting, just smell it once and realize that the wine is enormous. Superb fruity notes in symbiosis with freshness and cocoa beans. There is also the herbaceous side with thyme and then the minerality with graphite. On the palate the wine is compact, fatty, creamy, fresh and distinguished. What greatness and what ability to convince. This is the first time that Léoville Las Cases is not only brilliant in his notion of power but in his notion of finesse and race. He is convincing and attractive. 2024-2049.

The 2019 Léoville Las Cases is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 11% Merlot. Harvest began early for the Merlot, on the 18th of September, and the Cabernets were picked in October, finishing on the 8th of October. The IPT number (measurement of tannins) is 80—the same as 2018. The alcohol came at 14.02% (lower than 2018), but it does seem a little lower than this percentage, probably because the pH is a little lower this year, at 3.67. It is aging in French oak barrels, 90% new. The color is opaque purple-black, with a nose that unfurls slowly in the glass, beginning with vibrant, expressive black fruit notes of freshly crushed blackcurrants, ripe blackberries and fresh black cherries, followed by a beguiling array of floral and earth nuances—candied violets, lavender, fragrant soil, underbrush, crushed rocks and black truffles. The medium to full-bodied wine dances ever so gracefully on the palate, demurely revealing tightly wound layers of bright, crunchy black fruits and tantalizing floral and mineral sparks, supported by a rock-solid structure of firm, finely grained tannins and fantastic tension , finishing with epic persistence. Although the style is completely different, the barrel sample is being having a lot like the Haut-Brion sample was when I tasted it, in that it appears to be holding just that little bit extra back right now. I have to call it as I see it today, but I wouldn't be surprised if when I come back to taste this from bottle, it shows me all that and a lot more.