April 13, 2024 - A word I don’t associate with LLC - voluptuous. This is a thing of beauty. Short decant. Long finish.
April 12, 2024 - Lovely evolved Lascases and that's always so rare to say. Deep ruby red color hardly any signs of aging on the rim. Nose of perfumed cassis, lots of graphite, pencil lead, cigar box, blackberries, pepper. Great weight, medium to full bodied, coats mid palate with dark red and black fruits, finishes very long with some bitter chocolate notes.a hedonistic LLC at last?
March 29, 2024 - Best of all the ‘03 so far
March 22, 2024 - 1st of 36, opened an hour then decanted 90 minutes, perfect level curiously crumbly but clean cork - glossy, dark but transparent ruby, purple rimmed; very much on the cassis fruit, fresh and pure for 03, hints of cigar box and graphite, fragrant, complex and classy; fullish, very long, persistent, decent concentration, fruit masking fine tannic underpinning, much simpler as yet than nose, really quite adolescent but with volume and drive of fine vintage, beautiful balance for 03, much upside here, 30+ years. At least VF (18.5)........has 1st growth quality and will take decades to show its true potential; my sense is that it's behind 62, 75, 82, 85, 86, 90, 96 and the potentially sensational 2000- time will tell!
March 3, 2024 - During a Matter of Taste dinner, no detailed tasting notes. Dense dark fruit with torrefaction. Good enough freshness for 2003, medium complexity.
February 1, 2024 - Opaque garnet. This was an excellent wine with its dark fruit, creosote, fresh tobacco and earthy notes at the fore all overlayed with a sweetness reminiscent of the ripe fruit. This wine shows quite young and vibrant with a long grippy finish which belies the torrid heat of the vintage. Just entering its prime drinking window with lots of time on the clock for further development. Delicious.
December 3, 2023 - Late night Maison Dakota. Drank in Grassl 1855.
Appearance is clear, deep intensity, ruby colour. Legs.
Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of tobacco cigar box, pencil lead, blackberries, black plums, dark red cherry plum, cedarwood. Developed.
On the palate, dry, medium+ acidity, medium alcohol (13%), smooth resolved high tannins, medium+ body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of dark red cherryplum, sweet black plum, blackberry, blackcurrant, cigarbox, graphite pencil lead, sweet cedar, integrated oak, bit of leather. Long finish.
Very good quality. Doesn't have a whole lot of ripeness as I thought of a 2003. Quite complex although it seems to lack depth and full bodied oomph. A well-controlled 13% alc. Drinking well already.
November 25, 2023 - One of the fresher, more vibrant wines from the vintage that is notorious for so many jammy wines. Medium-bodied, ready-to-drink, plummy, earthy, tobacco, and blackberry-filled wine with a softness in the finish and no signs of jam or fig notes. Drink from 2023-2037.
July 27, 2023 - Very, very big fruit and very, very young-tasting. Intense red fruit, grippy tannins, still a lot of structure. Not a lot of tertiary development
May 19, 2023 - Nez typique médoc, cèdre et cassis. Vin rond, dodu et un peu fumé, encore boisé et jeune, avec des tanins enrobés. Il n’a pas encore développé la complexité d’un vieux vin, il parait très jeune. 93++