2008 Ch. Léoville-Las Cases, St Julien

One of several highlights of 2008, Ch. Léoville-Las Cases is an example of how brilliant St Julien can be in a good year. Interestingly it was also virtually the only estate in the Left Bank where Cabernet Franc really seemed to work in 2008 and the successful addition of a heady 12% in this blend adds a voluptuous perfume to the 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. Intensely concentrated with dense blackcurrant cassis, vanilla, a creamy texture and tannins which are linear but softened by a massive coating of black fruit, this is most definitely a must-buy wine this vintage.

Extremely deep blackish crimson. Spicy oak on the nose – very intense. Then amazingly opulent on the nose. Round and dense and dramatic. Like a cross between mulberries and tarmacadam. The Cabernets were naturally more than 13% apparently. Real excitement. Neat though not extraordinarily long finish. Still very, very youthful. The finish is very dry and brooding but much more supple than some earlier vintages.
(Jancis Robinson MW - jancisrobinson.com - Apr 09)

A classic style of Las Cases that is somewhat masculine for the vintage, tannic and backward, and less formidably concentrated than the 2009 or 2010, the 2008 needs 7-8 years of cellaring. Dense purple, the aromatics are closed, but with coaxing and aggressive swirling, notes of crushed rock, black currants and some forest floor notes emerge. Impressively built, medium to full-bodied, layered and stunningly concentrated, this is a sleeper vintage for Leoville Las Cases that should improve considerably, given how closed it was the day I tasted it. It is another 30+ year wine from proprietor Jean-Hubert Delon.
The 2008 Leoville Las Cases is a great classic as the selection process here is as Draconian as at any of the first-growths. Slightly more than one-third of the production made it into the grand vin, the harvest was very late, and the result is a wine boasting extraordinarily sweet tannin as well as abundant black cherry and cassis notes intermixed with a prominent underlying minerality. Despite the massive density, the wine is extremely precise, nuanced, and impeccably pure. This phenomenal effort should be more drinkable in its youth than many other vintages of Las Cases because of the ripe tannins and sweet fruit density.
(Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - Apr 09)