Last night at Noize in London’s Fitzrovia district. Couldn’t miss this one. On our table of nine we had a fabulous looking line up from 1961 to1989 – the criterion was strictly 1990 or older – and there was another table of seven with wines from 1970 to 1990, both of which ('70 and '90) I also tried.
F1:
1961 – still had bright red fruits, with cassis, tobacco, lavender and floral notes; really convincing, seamless, resolved, rich and luxurious on the midweight palate, with tobacco, mineral, gravel and meaty notes, with some morelles and forest floor; then with time some honey, acacia and saffron notes emerged - similar to the bottle of 1953 Lafite I opened last year. This is a thrilling wine, with kaleidoscopic complexity, similar to the one Tim McCracken opened ten years ago in Soho in London, though that bottle was even more ethereal with truffly notes. A thrilling wine, and right up there with the greatest 1961s…97
1975 – a pretty formidable act to follow, the 1975 had conspicuously less red fruit and cassis than either of its flight mates but it had a mesmerising fresh nose of capiscum and white and black pepper, leading into a big framed palate, where the tannins had nevertheless relented, and is now seamless and immensely satisfying. A bit more giving than the bottle we opened last year and a wine with such poise and gravitas…95
1978 – plenty of residual red fruit and some cassis on the nose, but which is dominated by tobacco and mineral notes, a theme which continues on the palate, which remains quite austere with tobacco and leafy tomato notes. A signature austere Leoville Lascases, this lacked the complexity and gravitas of its flight mates. Still an excellent to outstanding glass of claret…93
Bonus wine from the other table: 1970 – a delightful beautifully resolved wine, with was wonderfully lithe and light on its feet. A much better bottle than one we opened in February and holding up so well…94
F2
1981 – on sniffing this I immediately detected what seemed like TCA, as did one or two of the other sleuths around the table, and this could have gone either way, but luckily it was not corked … it was just the old leafy black currant notes that can be confused for TCA. This wine had an austere persona with mixed feelings around the table, but it really pulled itself up, and after a while it had transmogrified into a satisfying, and well balanced, mature glass of claret, albeit with the signature Lacases austerity…92
1982 – similar to the last encounter in 2022 this was opaque, dense, initially inscrutable, coiled and brooding, but then unfurled magnificently, with red and black fruits, notes of lead pencil, graphite and minerals with multi-layered complexity, and a seamless, never ending palate that comes at you with wave after wave. It is absolutely compelling and timeless and in my opinion now competes with the likes of 1982 Latour and Mouton for the wine of the vintage moniker. It was hard to choose between this and the 1961 for wotn, but I chose this one, a wine which has many decades of drinking left…98
1983 - unlike many other 1983s which are on the downslope, the 1983 LLC is still on its plateau of maturity and is nicely resolved with red fruit, cranberry and tobacco notes. However it is high in acidity, and – like the 1989 - has a marked austere streak which will never go away. Really is more of a food wine than one to drink on its own…92
F3
1985 – this has lashings of lead pencil/pencil shavings leading to a dense, concentrated and multi-faceted palate with such density and power and smoky mineral notes. This seems to get younger every time I try it. Last year I opined that maybe the 1985 Lascases needs more time, and this bottle reinforced those sentiments. A monumental wine and a candidate for wine of the vintage, but right now it is power over elegance, and in my opinion it is as backward as the 1986…95
1986 – yes you heard that right. Like the 1985 the 1986 is dense and powerful, inky with cassis lead pencil and graphite and big framed; and like the 1982 and 1985 it has layered complexity but can’t quite match the seamless compelling brilliance of the 1982, even though it was the runaway wine of the night at our 1986 dinner earlier in the year, which included Mouton. This bottle was from the same batch as that one, and pretty much identical. It is evenly matched with the 1985, and I slightly preferred it on the night, at least for current drinking…95
1989 – inky, lead pencil with brightly delineated red fruits, this is a noticeable step down in intensity from its two flight mates. It is a fine wine but with a pronounced austere streak with still somewhat spikey tannins and searing acidity, which makes it difficult to drink on its own. Very impressive but probably my least favourite Lascases last night…92
Bonus wine from the other table: 1990: A very different creature than the 1989 and interestingly more redolent of the 1990 vintage than the Leoville Lascases estate itself. Much rounder, riper and voluptuous than the 1989, and lower in acidity too, but enough to keep it all in balance, and much more fun to drink, this reawakened fond memories of a batched of this wine I polished off a long time ago…95
So overall this was a resoundingly positive showing for Chateau Leoville Lascases, which reaffirms its super second credentials, even if it didn’t materially advance the case for an upgrade to first growth status. I would lump last night’s wines into four categories:
Epic (97-98 pts): 1961, 1982
Outstanding (95 pts): 1975, 1985, 1986, 1990
Excellent (93-94 pts): 1970, 1978
Very good (92 pts): 1981, 1983, 1989
Even though I gave my nod to the 1982 over the 1961 for all intents and purposes it was a photo finish and I was the only person of ten incluing Manu the sommelier who didn’t pick the 1961 as their top wine: