Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2008

WEINWISSER: 19 RENÈ GABRIEL´S BX TOTAL: "Tiefes, herbes, schweres Bouquet, schwarze Kirschen, Tabak, Leder, Edelhölzer, Black Currant, Mocca. Klassischer, maskuliner, kräftiger Gaumen mit dichter Struktur, viel gutem Tannin, langer, dichter Abgang. 19/20 2017 - 2038"

JAMES SUCKLING: "Super racy and balanced. Masses of licorice and currants, intense aromas. Full and very silky with an intensity of fruit. Reminds me of the 1996. Best after 2015."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: 95 THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Already showing secondary nuances of olives, herbs, truffle, cedar chest, lead pencil and barbecue smoke make the nose. The wine is full bodied, firm, tannic, classically styled and still youthful. Another 5-10 years will bring the wine more softness and development."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "With its superb tannins, the wine has a great solid core of structure. Over it is an edifice of direct black berry fruits, elegant texture and intense acidity. Impressive, a wine for aging."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Extremely deep blackish crimson. Spicy oak on the nose - very intense. Then amazingly opulent on the nose. Round and dense and dramatic. Like a cross between mulberries and tarmacadam. The Cabernets were naturally more than 13% apparently. Real excitement. Neat though not extraordinarily long finish. Still very, very youthful. The finish is very dry and brooding but much more supple than some earlier vintages."

WINE SPECTATOR: "This is loaded for the vintage, with layer upon layer of crushed blackberry, fig paste and mulled black currant offset by smoldering tobacco, charcoal and anise notes. The finish is all iron and roasted earth for now, with the density to be among the longest-lived wines of the vintage. Best from 2013 through 2023. 14,583 cases made."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "A classic style of Las Cases that is somewhat masculine for the vintage, tannic and backward, and less formidably concentrated than the 2009 or 2010, the 2008 needs 7-8 years of cellaring. Dense purple, the aromatics are closed, but with coaxing and aggressive swirling, notes of crushed rock, black currants and some forest floor notes emerge. Impressively built, medium to full-bodied, layered and stunningly concentrated, this is a sleeper vintage for Leoville Las Cases that should improve considerably, given how closed it was the day I tasted it. It is another 30+ year wine from proprietor Jean-Hubert Delon."