Lynch Bages 1970; Leoville-Las-Cases 1970 in decanters

Château Léoville-Las Cases is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in the Saint-Julien appellation of the

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Château Léoville-Las Cases is also the name of the red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

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 The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines that were to be on display for visitors from ...

. Léoville-Las Cases was one of the first estates in Bordeaux to introduce a second label, Clos du Marquis. However, Clos du Marquis is a separate wine. Since 2007, the Chateau has offered a Second Wine known as Le Petit Lion de Marquis de Las Cases.

History

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 A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

. 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, also owners of châteaux Potensac and Nénin. In 1976, the 1971 vintage ranked number six among the ten French and California red wines in the historic "Judgment of Paris"

wine competition A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges. Types of ...

Production

The largest plot of Léoville-Las Cases'

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s, known as the Grand Clos, is located on the northern boundary of St-Julien, with only the Juillac tributary separating its vineyards from those of

Château Latour Château Latour is a French wine estate, rated as a First Growth under the 1855 Bordeaux Classification, owned by Groupe Artemis. Latour lies at the very southeastern tip of the commune of Pauillac in the Médoc region to the north-west of Borde ...

Pauillac Pauillac (; oc, Paulhac) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Popul ...

. The

area in total extends planted with a grape variety distribution of 65%

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

, 19%

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

, 13%

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

and 3%

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, c ...

. The vineyard underwent major replanting during the 1950s, and today the vines average 30 years of age. Léoville-Las Cases produces two wines, its ''grand vin'', and a

second wine Second wine or second label ( French: ''Second vin'') is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from '' cuvee'' not selected for use in the ''Grand vin'' or first label. In some cases a third wine or e ...

called Clos du Marquis that has been in production since 1902. 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 Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...

machine to help extract excess water from the grape must in a rainy vintage. Use of this machine is considered legal, but highly controversial, and while Léoville-Las Cases is not the only estate to employ this technique, few 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. The average annual production is 180,000 to 200,000 bottles for the ''Grand Vin'', and 250,000 to 270,000 bottles for the second label, Clos du Marquis.Galloway, Ken, thegrandcrew.com (August 18, 2009)
Visit With Bruno Rolland At Château Léoville Las Cases
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leoville Las Cases, Chateau Bordeaux wine producers

History

Production

See also

References