Community Tasting Note

drdan322 Likes this wine:

Wednesday, July 20, 2022 - This Léoville Las Cases is simply exceptional.

One can see why Parker gave it a rare “100” early on and now it is stunning, compelling and profound.

We bought two cases in 1985 (for ~$49 per bottle!), since well-cellared. Las Cases is often slow-to-mature but the 1982 has been truly obdurate – a tasting five years ago seemed almost youthfully unevolved.

Yet now? Perfection!

The cork broke transversely but the damp lower part was extracted cleanly. The wine decanted nicely with little sediment. The first pour was transparent cherry-ruby red yet with no tawny brickish edges. The initial nose was whiffs of pleasant barny loamy forest and black cherry.

Even the first taste raced a super silk textural opulence carrying abundant lead pencil, spice box and claro elements with no rough angles at all as tendrils of well toned tannins wove a wonderful vinous brocade.

Within half an hour the rich raciness remained as the bouquet orchestrated a medley of ripe black fruit, saddle leather layered under kirsch, hints of cedar and dried rose. Polished mineral earth acidity drove silky seamlessly concentrated flavors to a lingering finish dappled with flakes of old tobacco and grains of ash.

The robust unevolved tannins of years past are now fully resolved in a magnificent harmony – this is an archetype of what a truly superb vintage of well-aged Saint Julien and, especially, Léoville Las Cases can and should be.

Again, just a nigh-perfect wine finally entering a long peak era, likely to 2050 and beyond.

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