Our Wines & Spirits

Lisa Perrotti-Brown: The 2019 Leoville Las Cases is a blend of 79%Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 11% Merlot. Harvestbegan early for the Merlot, on the 18th of September, and theCabernets were picked in October, finishing on the 8th of October.The IPT number (measurement of tannins) is 80—- the same as 2018.The alcohol came at 14.02% (lower than 2018), but it does seem alittle lower than this percentage, probably because the pH is alittle lower this year, at 3.67. It is aging in French oakbarriques, 90% new.The color is opaque purple-black, with a nose that unfurls slowlyin the glass, beginning with vibrant, expressive black fruit notesof freshly crushed blackcurrants, ripe blackberries and fresh blackcherries, followed by a beguiling array of floral and earth nuances-—candied violets, lavender, fragrant soil, underbrush, crushedrocks and black truffles. The medium to full-bodied wine dancesever so gracefully on the palate, demurely revealing tightly woundlayers of of bright, crunchy black fruits and tantalizing floraland mineral sparks, supported by a rock-solid structure of firm,finely grained tannins and fantastic tension, finishing with epicpersistence. Although the style is completely different, the barrelsample is behaving a lot like the Haut-Brion sample was when Itasted it, in that it appears to be holding just that little bitextra back right now. I have to call it as I see it today, but Iwouldn't be surprised if when I come back to taste this frombottle, it shows me all that and a lot more.