Leoville-Las Cases Saint-Julien (ex ch. 2022) 2003

This wine is ex-Château 2022. 

95/100 - One of the successes of the vintage, the 2003 Léoville Las Cases becomes more and more reminiscent of the 1982 as it ages. Wafting from the glass with aromas of cassis, pencil shavings, petroleum jelly and vanilla pod, it's medium to full-bodied, with a broad, fleshy profile and a concentrated core of fruit framed by ripe, velvety tannins. It's undeniably high pH in profile, but not to excess. - William Kelley, Wine Advocate

94/100 - Medium red-ruby. Explosive nose of currant, cedar and lead pencil; shows near-perfect integration of the new oak. Sweet and lush but bright and light on its feet, possessing plenty of harmonious acidity. This has a wonderfully fine-grained texture and really saturates the palate with flavor. The very suave tannins reach the front teeth. Impressively dense, large-scaled wine. - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous 

18+/20 - At this early stage this wine is usually completely impenetrable but even Las Cases managed to show some opulence in this extraordinary vintage. Fruit beat those tannins for once! As usual the colour is almost black, and, like the first growths, this wine is so dense it contrasts with its second wine in its lack of overt message because it is just so massive. On the palate however it is quite unusually round and flattering – amazing for LLC! This is followed by a huge charge of tannin underneath, by no means integrated at the moment. It's extraordinary how 'cool' it tastes. It doesn't taste as tannic as most previous vintages but the analyses belie this apparently. Jean-Hubert Delon says his LLC vines were actually more stressed in 2002 than in 2003. - Jancis Robinson MW

96/100 - A record temperature of 48 degrees was recorded at the estate's weather station during the baking summer of 2003. There were more than 50 days of record heat, not even dropping below 30 degrees during the night. The pH climbed up to 3.62, compared to its usual 3.5 but as you might expect, even this hasn't entirely tamed the bite of Léoville. But it works - there isn't a trace of the heat you feel in many 2003 wines from Bordeaux. It's still full of life and tasting absolutely delicious right now. If you have reservations about Léoville's ability to welcome you in, this is the vintage to try. Pencil lead and slate give the character of the soils, while liquorice, black cherry, blueberry and bitter dark chocolate add gourmet notes that you rarely see in a 15-year-old Léoville. An excellent wine, not with the staying power of some years but still head and shoulders above most 2003s. - Jane Anson, Decanter

97/100 - This is more exotic and monstrous than the 2000. It is like a muscle builder, with lots of round and rich tannins and a core of dark fruits like black cherries and blueberries. Still very young, but structured and in need of five more years. Don’t touch this until 2015. - James Suckling