Leoville Las Cases 雄獅 2011 (OWC 6)

Description

By Wine Enthusiast in 2014 (WE96)
**Cellar Selection** Huge structure, huge potential, a wine that will bring out all the fruit and density of the vintage while remaining very fresh. Black plums are already showing strongly along with the dry core that promises aging. It’s serious while alive and bright. Drink this major wine from 2022.

By Wine Spectator in 2014 (WS95)
**Collectibles** This has some toast to shed, but retains a terrific core of crushed plum and blackberry confiture. There’s a beautiful ripple of charcoal for texture, with honest acidity for balance and a bolt of iron that keeps this firmly grounded. A brick-house Cabernet. Best from 2018 through 2030.

By James Suckling  in 2012 (JS93-94)
Intense aromas of currants and blackberries with minerals. Full body, with an serious density for the vintage, and racy tannin and acidity. It goes on very long. Reminds me a little of 1996. Very classic style.

By Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar in 2012 (ST92-94)
Good deep red. Outstanding verve to the aromas of raspberry, white pepper, violet, rose petal and sweet spices; today the Cabernet Franc component is very apparent. At once velvety and racy on the palate, with great energy and class to the red fruit, floral and mineral flavors. An electric wine that jolts the palate, and yet the exceptionally silky finish features creamy-sweet mouth-saturating tannins. If the 2007 was more Saint-Julien in style and the 2008 more like Pauillac, the subtly complex 2011 is very much Léoville. I’m not sure Jean-Hubert Delon could make a bad Léoville-Las-Cases even if he tried to. This should turn out to be one of the top five wines of the vintage.

By Robert Parker in 2014 (RP93)
One of the more formidably backward and potentially long-lived wines of the vintage, the medium to full-bodied 2011 Leoville Las Cases behaves like a first-growth, which in a sense it truly is. Revealing a dense inky/purple color, it is a structured, rich, impressively endowed effort that is meant for the long haul. Atypical for this vintage, it requires 5-7 years of bottle age and should drink well for two decades thereafter. The final blend was 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Franc.