1975 Château Léoville-Las Cases

Fully mature and unquestionably a success in the vintage (a birthyear for yours truly), the 1995 Château Léoville Las Cases reveals a ruby/amber hue with subtle bricking at the edges. This is followed by a perfumed, complex bouquet of cedarwood, sweet blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, lead pencil, and loamy soil and mineral-like nuances. With medium to full-bodied richness, it has a rich, concentrated, structured mouthfeel, still present tannins, and the focused, almost austere style of the vintage, yet it has a wonderful sweetness of fruit as well as length. Just a masculine, complex, regal Las Cases, it doesn't have the sheer charm and sexiness of vintages like 1982, 2000, or 2009, but it has the classic elegance and minerality that are the hallmarks of this incredible terroir. It opens up nicely with time in the glass and will continue drinking nicely for another two decades.

A good vintage compared with the early 1970s. Paler garnet and some brick at the rim but still quite a bit of red at the core. The first really developed nose of this line up – liquorice and undergrowth and bloody and a touch of mint. Very bloody. Much juicier than I expected after the nose, high acidity, resolved tannins but a slightly lean finish. Acid starting to stick out. More old-fashioned style. (JH)

This is one of the great successes of the vintage. However, those with modern day tastes for soft, easy-going, supple wines may not enjoy the 1975 Leoville Las-Cases. Why? It is a tannic, backward, old style wine cut from the mold of such vintages as 1948 and 1928. The color is a dark ruby/garnet with a hint of amber at the edge. The nose offers up distinctive mineral, lead pencil, sweet, blackcurrant scents with flinty overtones. Full-bodied, thick, and concentrated, as well as atypically muscular and powerful, this should prove to be one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage. There are sensational levels of richness and intensity. While the vintage's tough tannin level ensures another 20-35 years of longevity, the wine may dry out by that time. I thought this wine would be at its peak by the mid-nineties, but it still needs another 5-8 years of cellaring. It is a very impressive, albeit backward and hard wine.