Château Léoville Las Cases 2012

Critic scores

• Wine Enthusiast96
• Wine Advocate95
• Jeb Dunnuck95
• Vinous93

The 2012 vintage in Saint-Julien

Vintage benchmark: 85/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A late cycle closing with rain gave an uneven vintage: the cabernets hold up, the merlots remain taut.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Julien. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

Léoville Las Cases wines are powerful, tight and rich, with a slightly austere character close to the style of the great Pauillac wines. While it can certainly be enjoyed young, it is generally after twenty years or so that it expresses its full potential

Blend of the 2012 vintage

Figures from the 2012 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 27 hl/haYield
• 40 yrsVine age
• 200,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

During the harvest, the grapes are sent to the vat house where they are vinified in wooden vats of around 200 hectolitres. This impressive set of wooden vats is pleasing to look at and illustrates the traditional approach to wine ageing that prevails at Léoville Barton. A thermo-regulation system allows the juice to ferment at the chosen temperature. A state-of-the-art crusher-destemmer has been installed, along with a latest-generation press. Fermentation generally lasts five days, during which the juice is pumped over into the vat twice a day. The wine macerates with the marc for a period of approximately two weeks.

Ageing

16 to 20 months in barrels

Terroir

The Clos holds a terroir of very great complexity. Made up mainly of Quaternary gravel on a sandy-gravelly and clayey-gravelly subsoil, clays of varying depth and compactness are also found, sometimes even outcropping. The proximity of the Gironde is responsible for this great diversity of soils, created over successive geological periods through superimposition. In addition, the river generates a very specific microclimate that allows the grapes to ripen very early and protects the vineyard from frost. This range of geological combinations influences the development of the vine and the composition of the grapes: a regular but limited water supply and very low nutrient input favour the expression of the great Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet Francs, which very often reach their quintessence whatever the vintage. This incomparable terroir gives the grand vin its unique personality.