2001 Léoville Las-Cases

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | AUGUST 23, 2021

I admit it. I like the classics. Whether it is food, wine, music, art, fashion or anything else, my tastes have long been drawn to the classics, which I define as things that have lasting value over time. Those things that never go out of style. When it comes to wine, Léoville Las Cases is a classic. It is a wine I often chose to serve in important moments because of that sense of timelessness. One of the takeaways from our current pandemic is perhaps a greater appreciation for the simpler things in life, which maybe aren’t so simple after all, like this family lunch with my parents, whom I did not see for a year and a half. 

The 2001 Léoville Las Cases is simply stunning. I was fully prepared to decant it given that Las Cases is almost always a brute in its youth. And make no mistake about it, a twenty year-old Las Cases is still a youngster. Quite frankly, I am not at all prepared for the sheer intensity and richness that emanates from the glass. No decanting needed. The 2001 is simply magnificent upon opening. A rush of generous inky blackberry jam, spice, graphite and leather conveys superb textural intensity. Time in the glass helps the aromatics come alive. Shockingly rich and voluptuous, the 2001 is also wonderfully open today. Uncharacteristically so for Las Cases, in fact. But who’s complaining? Certainly not me.

Even so, the 2001 is ultimately a mid-weight Las Cases, with plenty of opulent fruit, but not quite the tannic heft that is such a signature of this reference-point St. Julien. Readers lucky enough to own the 2001 are in for a real treat. This is an especially fine bottle, perhaps the finest I have come across. Aside from all the technical analyses and descriptors, what really matters most is that the 2001 is a wine that delivers immense drinking pleasure. I absolutely loved it. 96/Drink 2021-2051.

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