Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2023

The Land

The heart of Léoville Las Cases is in Saint-Julien, but only a small stream, the Juillac, separates its main walled vineyard from Château Latour in Pauillac. That enclosed block, the Grand Enclos, sits at the northern tip of the appellation behind stone walls and the estate's lion-topped gateway, on two low gravel rises of about 15 meters that face the Gironde. The soils are Quaternary gravels over gravelly sand and gravelly clay, with clay beds of varying depth. The estuary is the other half of the story. Its mass of water keeps the vineyard frost-free in spring and ripens grapes early in autumn, while the thin gravel restricts water and nutrients just enough to force small berries with thick skins. This is as close to first-growth terroir as Saint-Julien gets, and the wines have been priced accordingly for decades.

The Wine

Léoville Las Cases 2023 is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Merlot, the smallest share of Merlot ever used in the Grand Vin. Harvest ran from September 9 to October 2 at 43 hectoliters per hectare, a relatively healthy crop in a year when mildew cut volumes hard elsewhere in Bordeaux. The Gironde helped carry the vines through a warm season punctuated by late-summer heat, and the late-picked Cabernet carried the blend. Fermentation takes place in a mix of wood, concrete and stainless steel vats. The wine spent about 18 months in barrel, predominantly new oak, with 6.6% press wine, and was bottled in July 2025 at 13% alcohol. Cassis, bilberry, tobacco leaf and pencil lead, dense but framed tannin, pepper and cinnamon spice, and a long slate-mineral finish.

The People

The original Léoville estate dates to the 17th century and was one of the largest in the Médoc before it was divided between 1826 and 1840 in the aftermath of the Revolution. The Marquis de Las Cases kept roughly three-fifths, including the heart of the property, while the rest became Léoville Poyferré and Léoville Barton. The Las Cases heirs ran it until 1900, when Théophile Skawinski bought a share and became manager, and his successors, the Delon family, gradually took full control. Michel Delon ran the estate from 1976 to 2000 and built its reputation for severe selection and wines made for very long aging. His son Jean-Hubert Delon is sole owner today and also owns Château Nénin in Pomerol and Château Potensac in the Médoc.

Food Pairing

Filet mignon with sauce Périgueux, the classic truffle and Madeira reduction, gives the wine's tobacco and cassis a partner equally serious. Roast pheasant with bacon, braised red cabbage and a jus of its own drippings brings enough fat and game to soften young tannin. Beef cheeks braised for hours in red wine until they fall apart work on texture: gelatin and richness against firm, fine tannin. And a wedge of three-year aged Gouda, crystalline and nutty, pulls the spice out of the finish. Saint-Julien red wine at this level wants time, so put a few bottles away and plan the dinner around them in 15 years.