2011 Château Léoville Las Cases

Community Tasting Notes (27) Avg Score: 92.3 points

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  8/27/2023 - Evanbdavis Likes this wine: 96 Points

  A classic case of opening something glorious a bit too early. The 2011 vintage produced some excellent Bordeaux wines overshadowed by 2009 and 2010's high quality watermark. And thankfully the pricing of many 2011's remains consistently fair. The 2011 Las Cases is an extremely fresh and classic style of Saint Julien that I'll readily admit I opened too early. There are undoubtedly unplumbed depths of pleasure and completeness here that time will bring to light. I will say that this style of vintage, though not immediately flush with generosity, does have a tenderness to the tannins. Though it is offset by a somewhat bracing acidity, and the acids need time to soften, relax into the fruit and shed their 'al dente' perception on the palate. The rest is all there, beautiful currant fruit, graphite, smoke, minted chocolate, and a bouquet of high toned purple flowers and tobacco. Lovely stuff. But wait if you have the patience.

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  12/17/2022 - KAT9 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Dense, savory, earthy, some dark fruits on the nose. Balanced, beautiful on the palate. No alc detected. Oak is minimal. Very nice bdx despite a challenging vintage. Oozing class

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  12/5/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote: 94 Points

  Chocolate mint, flowers, currants, cedar and lead guypencil on the nose bring you to a hmouth full of chewy Cabernet, dusty tannins and a finish with tart cherries and bitter cocoa in the endnote. Decanted 60 minutes before serving. Drink from 2023-2040.

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  12/26/2021 - zimmy07 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  This has a chance of becoming a 95pt wine in a few more years. Most look down on 2011 vinatge, I like it. It was my sons birthyear so I have a decent amount. This was still young but evolving. Color of wine is almost black, really big wine still with a massive backbone of blackberry,leather, and some minerality. Really damn good wine! 2011 is affordable compared to other vintages, may be worth picking some up.

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  11/10/2021 - Cailles wrote: 92 Points

  Bordeaux 2011 - 10 Years On - 30 Reds: All tasted blind, not decanted. A few observations: 1) As expected, it's a mediocre vintage with many wines lacking depth and mid palate weight of great vintages. My average score for the reds was 91.3 pts vs group scores at more recent horizontals for 2010 (93.0), 2000 (92.7) and 2009 (93.9). 2) I expected more green/unripe notes and drying tannins but that is not the case (hence the solid 91.3 average). Most wines showed well-made (with only 6 out of 30 reds rated below 90 pts). 3) Left bank (average 91.8 pts) clearly trumps right bank (90.6) thanks to more mid palate substance. 4) Virtually no wine showed a) over extracted and already dying and b) with far too much ripeness. Both 2009/2010 (and 2015/2018) have several wines with these problem. 5) Most wines are in a good drinking window. Although not yet with tertiary complexity, the structure has softened and the wines are open (even without extended decanting). 6) Unfortunately (due to price), the best reds were Le Pin (97+ pts), Margaux (96), Petrus (96) and Mouton (95). 7) Good vintage for Sauternes it seems (we tasted only two) with a surprising Giraud (96 pts) beating a too sweet Yquem (93).
  
  TN: The last red wine of the night and hence my senses were a bit tired. Like many LLCs I've tried, this had a good amount of substance, lots of minerality, herbal and leafy notes but is missing a bit of charm and sexiness to make it a balanced wine. The structural frame was good with a wall of round tannins, a well-integrated acidity and an airy texture. Good length and overall a solid wine without exceptionalism. In this flight of three St. Juliens it came in second after the almost unbeatable Barton (94 pts) and the usual winner Ducru Beaucaillou (91 pts?) which showed a bit too much ripeness.

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