Château Léoville-Las Cases
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Château Léoville-Las Cases is a winery in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Léoville-Las Cases is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen Deuxièmes Crus (Second Growths) in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.
Léoville-Las Cases was once part of a much larger estate until the time of the French Revolution when a portion of this estate was separated into what is today Château Léoville-Barton. In 1840, the estate was again divided and land that would eventually become Château Léoville-Poyferré was split off. Since the mid 20th century the Delon family have been owners of this estate.
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[edit] Vineyard
The largest plot of Léoville-Las Cases' vineyards, known as the Grand Clos, are located in the norther portion of the St-Julien with only the Juillac tributary separating its vineyards from those of Château Latour in Pauillac. A total of 97 hectares are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (65%), Merlot (19%), Cabernet Franc (13%), and Petit Verdot (3%). The vineyard underwent major replanting during the 1950s, and today the vines average 30 years of age.
[edit] The Wine
Léoville-Las Cases produces two wines, its grand-vin, and a second wine called Clos du Marquis. Grapes are harvested by hand, crushed and then may be fermented in temperature controlled wood, concrete, or stainless steel vats of varying size depending on the style of the vintage. Léoville-Las Cases also employs a state of the art reverse osmosis machine to help extract excess water from the grape must in a rainy vintage (Kramer). Use of this machine is considered legal, but highly controversial, and while Léoville-Las Cases is certainly not the only estate to employ such a machine, few other estates admit to their use. After processing and fermentation, the wine is transferred into oak barrels for 18-20 months of aging before being fined with egg whites and bottled. Chateau Léoville-Las Cases was one of the first estates in Bordeaux to introduce a second label, Clos du Marquis.
In 1976, the 1971 vintage ranked number six among the ten French and California red wines in the historic Judgment of Paris wine competition.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Kramer, Matt. Making Sense of Wine. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2003.
