Leoville Lascases

Château Leoville Las Cases

 

One of the most famous names of all Bordeaux chateaux and one of the oldest winegrowers in the Medoc. Leoville Las Cases has a long and varied association with nobility, indeed, Las Cases takes its name from one of its royal family owners, the Las Cases.  In 1638, Jean de Moytié, a counselor of the Bordeaux parliament owned a vineyard by the name of Mont-Moytié, which was among the first to produce wine in Bordeaux, alongside such chateaux as Margaux, Latour, La Fitte and La Tour de Saint-Lambert. 

A hundred years were to pass until the next passing of the flame, through marriage Mont-Moytié came to the de Gasq family, whose patriarch, Alexandre de Gasq, then owner of a wine property in the Right Bank, re-named the estate ‘Lionville’ rendered into French as Leoville.  Alexandre de Gasq had determined to turn Leoville into the finest producer of the Medoc, introducing what at the time were little-known approaches to winegrowing. Among such innovations were the re-planting of grape varieties in accordance with site conditions, the use of vine training, must was free-run into barriques for ageing, which in turn were disinfected through with sulphur. 

By 1775, following the death of Alexandre de Gasqs, Leoville was the largest vineyard property in the Medoc, with in excess of 121ha. (300 acres)! At this time the estate was maintained intact by the family, however, it was taken to market by four different family names; Lacaze, Monbalon, Chevalier and d’Abadie. The latter two themselves coming from old viticultural families from Bordeaux Chevalier owned part of Gassies in the commune of Margaux while Abadie was manager at Chateau Beychevelle.

In 1840 inheritance laws meant that the oldest son, Pierre Jean de Lascases received a portion of the chateau, this became Leoville Las Cases. Meanwhile, his sister Jeanne gave her share to her daughter who was wife to a nobleman from Armagnac, Baron Jean-Marie Poyferré de Cerès. Thus, the physical chateau of Leoville was divided into two part; Leoville Poyferre and Leoville Las Cases who between them shared a common work area, just as they do today.

The famous 53ha. (21.45 acre) walled area of Leoville Las Cases is arrived to via the main gates to the property, from where, amid this imposing structure, one can see the small commune of St Julien and the abutting of chateau vineyards with those of Chateau Latour.

In the 19^th century the eventual tenure of the chateau’s current owners, the Delons, came to the fore when shares of the estate were purchased by Thoophile Skawinksi, the great grandfather of current owner, Jean-Hubert Delon, today owners of a number of Bordeaux properties (see below). One of the early innovations of the Delons was to produce, in 1902, one of Bordeaux’s original second wines, Clos du Marquis. Nonetheless, the Delon family have never considered Clos du Marquis a second wine per se, given that the fruit is in fact sourced from entirely different vineyard land than that used for the Grand Vin, and as such, a distinct and unrelated wine. With the 2007 vintage, a true second wine has come into being, Petit Lion du Marquis de Las Cases, made up of the younger vines from the Las Cases vineyards.  

 

 

Style

Leoville Las Cases is traditionally structured style of great longevity in good vintages, it presents a classic Pauillac interplay of cassis, cedar, cigar box and truffle, nonetheless, it is Leoville Las Cases in character.

 

Top-rated vintages

Vintage	RP	JR	Market price £	£ / Parker points
2010	95-98	17.5	2,200	22.80
2009	96-100	18	2,250	23.08
2005	98	18.5	2,200	22.30
2000	98	18.5	2,500	25.51
1996	98	16.5	2,000	20.41
1986	96	16	2,450	25.52
1990	96		2,750	28.65
2002	95	16.5	1,175	12.37
1995	95	16.5	1,489	15.67
1982	95	16.5	3,650	38.42

As per June 2011

 

Market

Levoille Las Cases has a powerful brand image and a long history as one of the great classic wines, endorsed by consistent pricing in the market.  With so much attention on the performance of first growths and the entrance in vigour of so-named flything fiths, super seconds such as Leoville may just be ones to watch.

 

Liv-ex Power 100 ranking

2010	total score	2009	move
17	189	17	0

As per June 2011

The Liv-ex Power 100 is a list of the top performers over the previous year and their position starting the current year.  The indice traces the movement of chateau and other wines using a sophisticated weighting system based on average prices, production, notional availability and Parker Points.

 

Release price evolution

Vintage	ex Negociant € / btl	London release price £ / cs
2010	192	1,950
2009	216	2,395
2008	79	895
2007	89	895
2006	125	1,150
2005	180	1,680

 

Leoville Las Cases at a glance

Commune: St Julien

Soils: gravelly-clay soils, the largest plot being within a clos, a vineyard site surrounded by a stone wall lying between the village of St-Julien and Château Latour. 

Climate: maritime.

District: Medoc

Classification: 2eme Cru Classe 1855

Owner: Jean-Hubert Delon and Geneviève d'Alton

Winemaker: Jean-Hubert Delon.

Vineyard:97ha./240 acres centred on the Gran Clos vineyard, planted to 65 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The vineyard saw extensive replanting during the 1950s after the great frost and today average around 30 years old.

Vinification and ageing:stainless steel, wooden or concrete vats depending on the style of the vintage then reverse osmosis for some vintages, a machine used to extract water from the grapes, followed by 18 months in oak barriques (70-80% new)

Production: 35,000 cases.

Other properties: Chateaux Pontensac and Chateaux Nenin.