1975 Chateau Leoville-Las Cases Grand Vin de Leoville

Description

1975 Chateau Leoville-Las Cases Grand Vin de Leoville

Tasted at Robersons Las-Cases vertical. The 75 has a lovely mature nose of mulberry, cedar, pine and a touch of gravel with very good definition and poise. The palate is not quite as attractive as the nose but is fresh and lively with good acidity, and degraded tertiary dark red fruits interlaced with tobacco and cedar, leading to an elegant supple finish with touches of wild mushroom. Very pleasing.

Critical Acclaim

94 James Suckling

This came as a big surprise because I usually associate outstanding bottles of Bordeaux from this vintage with only the Right Bank or Graves. But the 1975 Las Cases is superb. It showed gorgeous aromas of dried berries and tobacco with iodine and shells. It was full body, a firm with pleasantly chewy tannins and chalk, berry and lavender aftertaste. Fresh finish. It’s still so beautiful.

92 Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

This is one of the great successes of the vintage. However, those with modern-day tastes for soft, easy-going, supple wines may not enjoy the 1975 Leoville Las-Cases. Why? It is a tannic, backward, old-style wine cut from the mold of such vintages as 1948 and 1928. The color is a dark ruby/garnet with a hint of amber at the edge. The nose offers up distinctive mineral, lead pencil, sweet, blackcurrant scents with flinty overtones. Full-bodied, thick, and concentrated, as well as atypically muscular and powerful, this should prove to be one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage. There are sensational levels of richness and intensity. While the vintage’s tough tannin level ensures another 20-35 years of longevity, the wine may dry out by that time. I thought this wine would be at its peak by the mid-nineties, but it still needs another 5-8 years of cellaring. It is a very impressive, albeit backward and hard wine.