How I learned to Love Las Cases

[Mont_Stern]

@Neal.Mollen

I have some of the 1996 and 2000, and I suspect the wines are in a race with my life expectancy. I’d rather not have “left his LLC to his kid” on my tombstone

When I read the post and hoped someone would have taken one for the team and tasted the 96. I bought a couple when the Charlie Trotter’s wine cellar was liquidated. Hopefully, customers had the sense not to order any with dinner. Pretty optimistic on their part to put it on the list in the first place.

[Arv_R]

Nice notes. I guess I’ve been lucky and have rarely been disappointed by LLC. But I suppose that should be tempered with the caveat that its an infrequent treat.

[R_Frankel]

I’ve really enjoyed both the '89 and '90 in the last few years - great wines that match expectations from this great house. The '82 and '96 have also been impressive, though the former is no QPR and the latter is still young.

[Sanjay_Nandurkar]

LLC is quite a frustrating experience. The top vintages can take forever to show their best. Often you are tasting only the potential. However, off vintages such as '79, 81, 83, 88, '02 are more approachable and give more pleasure early on.

[Victor_Hong]

I still have a double magnum of the 1994 LLC, sitting in my refrigerator, waiting for an occasion when mature (the wine, not me).

[Mark_Golodetz]

Done a couple of verticals. A wine I have always admired but seldom loved as the tannins never really soften appropriately. The 1982 is a good example of this. For me, the one major exception is 1996, which seems to be just beginning to enter its maturity and the tannins seem have softened beautifully.

[Ramon_C]

@Sanjay Nandurkar

LLC is quite a frustrating experience. The top vintages can take forever to show their best. Often you are tasting only the potential. However, off vintages such as '79, 81, 83, 88, '02 are more approachable and give more pleasure early on.

We had the '02 during this dinner, which Faryan left out in his notes above. It was in the same flight as the 1995. The '95 was the much better drinker, but I decanted it for 2 hours before going to the restaurant. The '02 was popped and poured.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Soren R Nielsen

1996 and 2000, the last two vintages I bought… Oh man, will I be around to taste them mature. Maybe storing a few at a higher temp. (living room) to accelerate the processes could be an option ?

Regards, Soren.

This is why the last vintage of LLC I own is 90. Oh, and also because when I bought those wines I think the prices were in the upper $20s.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Sanjay Nandurkar

LLC is quite a frustrating experience. The top vintages can take forever to show their best. Often you are tasting only the potential. However, off vintages such as '79, 81, 83, 88, '02 are more approachable and give more pleasure early on.

In what universe are 79, 81, 83 and 88 off vintages. Wow.

[Soren_R_Nielsen]

I agree with Howard.
It can be much harder to love the red bords from 77, 84, 87 and 91.
-And even in these poor vintages, there are some survivors, showing over expectations.

Soren.

[Mark_Golodetz]

1984 LLC is mostly a late release as Delon liked the wine and couldn’t find takers at the price he wanted en primeur. I had the wine in one of the verticals and it was pretty good especially in view of the vintage

[A_So]

Had a 2011 last night. Thoroughly underwhelmed.

[Max_K]

I’ve always been a fan of LLC, and while I agree it evolves at a glacial pace, is it that much slower than cab-driven First Growths? It’s been a while since I tasted them, but I recall the '86 Mouton as more monolithic and closed than '86 LLC.

Either way, count me among the estates’ fans. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a 2000 LLC among several bottles I’d left in a friend’s cellar while moving a few years back.

[Ian_A]

It was a most enjoyable evening and kudos to Ramon for organising it. La Mangeoire is worth visiting just for the chicken and chips. It was quite noisy and bustling, however, and with the odd siren going past hard to focus on the wines.

The two Pichon Lalandes, 1978 and 1988 were fabulous and marginally saw off a strong showing from the four LLCs to be my wines of the night.

The 1978 LLC was classic and nicely resolved, but not as good as one we had in a London a few weeks ago which was the star of a St-Julien tasting.

http://wine-pages.com/community/threads/fletchers-st-julien-fest-rsj.2177/#post-36239

The 1990 LLC was the pre-tournament favourite and delivered the goods. However I prefer my LLC to be less exuberant than this. Unquestionably a very fine wine this is somewhat atypical for the estate.

The 1995 was probably my favourite LLC of the night. Very LLC but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t shut down. It showed superb dense fruit and a lot of promise.

The 2002 was from a batch I bought several years ago in CT and stored in Manhattan for the last five years. It was drinking well five years ago but has now gone into its shell a bit. We had another one on Sunday night and it underwhelmed.

In terms of LLCs for current drinking you cannot go wrong with the 1985 and 1988, and of course the 1978. The 1985 will last for many more years, the 1988 is perfectly a point. The 1981 and 1983 are drinking, but are lesser wines. The 1975 is about as good as it is going to get (rather than as good as it gets) but I still like it very much.