2003 Léoville Las Cases

97 POINTS

James Suckling

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.

97 POINTS

James Suckling - Wine Spectator

Incredible nose of crushed berry, licorice, violets and lightly toasted oak. Pure crème de cassis. Full-bodied, with big, velvety tannins and a long, long finish. Solid. Best after 2011.

97 POINTS

Huon Hooke - The Real Review

(1500ml magnum) A classic wine, in tip-top condition. Classic Medoc cedary, tobaccoey and cigarbox bouquet - very cabernet, properly ripe, and without any aberrant characters. Clean, stately, elegant Bordeaux with a gentlemanly bearing. Textbook Pauillac-style St Julien! Many more years ahead of it.

96 POINTS

Wine Spectator

There's a lovely backdrop of charcoal and paving stone notes here, offset by juicy black currant, fig, melted licorice and ganache flavors. Sweet tobacco hints course through the finish, where the cold charcoal steadily turns to lit embers. Impressively maintains some austerity in this vintage.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 10,833 cases made.

96 POINTS

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

An incredibly fresh, lively 2003 (the pH is only 3.6 and the alcohol is 13.1%), this wine offers a dense ruby/purple color along with full body and a remarkable nose of black currants, kirsch, lead pencil shavings and vanilla. Opulent, full-bodied and close to full maturity, it is a seamless classic that will age for 15-20 more years. Kudos to the Delon family for such a brilliant achievement in a tricky vintage.

96 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter

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.

95 POINTS

James Molesworth - Wine Spectator

There’s a lovely backdrop of charcoal and paving stone notes here, offset by juicy black currant, fig, melted licorice and ganache flavors. Sweet tobacco hints course through the finish, where the cold charcoal steadily turns to lit embers. Impressively maintains some austerity in this vintage. Best from 2020 through 2040. 10,833 cases made.

Julia Harding MW - JancisRobinson.com

Deep garnet. Ripe fruit-cake aromas and spice but with some cedary herbaceous notes too. More leafy on the palate and uncharacteristically juicy. Fine grained and dense tannins but there's good fruit depth. Flavourful not elegant. Score: 16.5/20