Léoville Las Cases 1985

.. A brilliant, fully mature yet beautifully elegant wine of first-growth quality, the 1985 Léoville Las-Cases, which has another decade of aging ability, although it is certainly à point, as the French would say…

The 1985 Léoville Las-Cases is quite simply one of the finest Saint-Julien wines of the decade and over a dozen encounters have reaffirmed this as the most pleasurable Las-Cases ever made. This is a stupendous bottle, perhaps the best that I have ever encountered. It has a brilliantly defined bouquet that soars from the glass: red berry fruit, crushed stone, pressed flower, a hint of blood orange and woodland aromas. You could nose this all day. The palate is medium-bodied with the depth and structure one expects from this Second Growth. But what the 1985 has in spades, a virtue not always found at this address, is charm. Silky smooth in texture, the pure red fruit seduces the sense with a shimmering sense of energy on the finish. It is drinking now after three decades and based on this showing could give another three before it declines. 2018 - 2045

The 1985 is a gorgeously open-knit Lascases with a sweet nose of lead pencil, sweet black cherries and currants, and a hint of underbrush and new oak. Medium-to-full-bodied with expansiveness, supple tannins, and outstanding concentration, this is a beautifully made wine that still tastes like it is an adolescent and may even have an ever greater upside as it continues to age. The low acidity and sweet tannins, however, suggest it has entered its plateau of maturity. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.

This is one of my favorite vintages of Las Cases for present day consumption. The wine reveals a youthful deep ruby/purple color, followed by a classic Las Cases bouquet of pain grille, lead pencil, minerals, and ripe black currants. Medium to full-bodied, with outstanding concentration, and soft tannin, this is a classic, fleshy 1985 that reveals none of the potential dilution noticeable in many wines from this vintage. At one time I thought this might turn out to be a modern day clone of the 1953, but it possesses a lot more flesh and intensity.

Tasted blind at Harry Gill's annual lunch. Always one of the finest Las-Cases of the 1980s, this bottle convinces with a complex, tightly-wound nose of blackberry, cedar, dried herbs, sous-bois and cigar box. The palate is full-bodied with firm, sinewy tannins, compact at first but fanning out wonderful towards a supple, lithe finish tinged with iodine. Marvellous. Drink now-2030.