I bought the 1992 Leoville Las Cases on Futures, and this bottle has been properly stored since delivery.

A beautiful, dark red/purple, youthful appearing juice poured from the bottle, but that's where the joy ended! This bottle had strong notes of green bell pepper and a weedy, vegetal finish. Also, there was a pronounced woody astringency on the finish; all of the above with minimal fruit!

However, since the appearance in the glass was so solid and youthful, I had the bottle decanted, hoping for some improvement. The wine did improve over the next 2 hours, but never did achieve the level of pleasure I expected. This could've been an off bottle, but I think you should be careful when taking a 1992 Leoville Las Cases to a Restaurant, and take a back-up. ------------80/82 points.

Nice note.

My brief comment on the vintage: 88pts, tasted 12/25/08, somewhat austere, somewhat amber rim, nice integration, but fruit more subtle.

I think what you called astringent with minimal fruit is probably where I was going with austere and fruit more subtle.

I enjoyed it more than you, but I'm a softy on LLC. Not a good vintage of that wine.

I liked 1991 about the same, but 1991 has a lot more fruit.

Lentini,

I know you realize that the 1991 Bordeaux vintage was terrible, but Pichon Lalande and Leoville Las Cases made some excellent wines that could be opened immediately. Most all of P/L & LLC were gone by 1995!

The 1992 Bordeaux vintage was better than the 1991 Vintage, and that's why I was really surprised by that bottle last night. I still have several bottles of 1992, and I'll try one soon, and post the results....

I know you've got a 1982 LLC, but do you have anymore 1992?

Yes, courtesy a generous Sr. latour67, I have a 1982. Can't wait to open it. I mean, I CAN wait, but I don't want to. Maybe for my 40th b-day in 2011.

I have no more 1992.

I have a 1955 (my first bottle older than 1970) and a 1975 both standing up that I planned to open maybe this week. I was thinking about drabbing a 1995 at the same time. 40years of LLC in one sitting. But I think I may have caught a bug from one of my kids, so it's up in the air.

Speaking of not-so-great vintages of LLC... I recently grabbed a 1980. I have only seen it available a couple of times, so I snatched it to fill in that gap in my LLC experience.

Smart move on the 1980 LLC; you can add 1977.

Also, I don't like to open those special bottles when I have a cold, flu, or any kind of bug. It always throws the taste off a bit.

Yes! 1987, 1984, and 1977 are the only other gaps I have remaining until you get back to that evil '72-'74 trio of vintage disasters, which I'm thinking are better left unfound (if wine was even bottled).

I've seen '87 a couple of times, '84 once, but I've never seen a '77.

So far I've skipped anything from the '60s, but if this '55 shows at all, I might rethink that.

Early 60's should be good, but you can skip the mid 60's to mid 70's. 1975 was excellent and 1978 & 1979 were also good, but I think Parker made Las Cases with his ratings starting with the 1982 and 1986, which lately have been down graded by the WA! Still, they're 95+ & 98 points, respectively!

I had to try 1970/71, 1971 being my birthyear. They were fun to try. I totally agree with your assessment of '75/'78/'79... So I plan to take your advice on the '60s. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by latour67:
1986...98 points!

Would you agree with that scoring for the '86, latour?
Have your bottles shown that well?

To the best of my recollection, I don't believe I've had any 1986 Bordeaux I'd score as high as the critics did. Virtually all of them have seemed closed and hard.

quote:

Originally posted by KSC02:

quote:

Originally posted by latour67:
1986...98 points!

Would you agree with that scoring for the '86, latour?
Have your bottles shown that well?

KSC02,

I originally had 3 (OWC) cases of the 1986 LLC, but I sent most to auction. But I can say, I've never had anything close to a 98 point bottle! Also, I had some concern that those searing tannins would dry out the fruit, but I did keep 6 bottles to see if it ever matures enough to balance. I don't know what's going to happen with Bordeaux 1986 or LLC, and it may even become the outstanding vintage that many critics claimed, but I agree with Board-O, "virtually all of them have seemed closed and hard", and that includes LLC!

quote:

Originally posted by latour67:
I originally had 3 (OWC) cases of the 1986 LLC, but I sent most to auction. But I can say, I've never had anything close to a 98 point bottle! Also, I had some concern that those searing tannins would dry out the fruit, but I did keep 6 bottles to see if it ever matures enough to balance.

I will admit that I don't always agree with your outlook on things, latour.
But I've got to say, that's probably a very wise move on your part. Well done!

And, sincerely, thank you for your feedback on this. I appreciate it.

quote:

Originally posted by KSC02:

quote:

Originally posted by latour67:
I originally had 3 (OWC) cases of the 1986 LLC, but I sent most to auction. But I can say, I've never had anything close to a 98 point bottle! Also, I had some concern that those searing tannins would dry out the fruit, but I did keep 6 bottles to see if it ever matures enough to balance.

I will admit that I don't always agree with your outlook on things, latour.
But I've got to say, that's probably a very wise move on your part. Well done!

And, sincerely, thank you for your feedback on this. I appreciate it.

KSC02,

You said, "I will admit that I don't always agree with your outlook on things, latour".

Thanks, I think! Well anyway, you're in very good company, as my wife says the same thing!

I've had one 1986 LLC, and it was the best bottle of wine I've had so far. I gave it 97pts. I had it in August of 2007.

Lentini,

I believe every bottle of the 1986 Leoville Las Cases that I opened was undeveloped and hard on the finish. Still, there was enough fruit to have hope for the future. I'm thinking 2016+ would be the best time to try another one!

I think your drinking window may be accurate.

(Thanks to PurpleHaze) I was able to try it over many hours, which likely helped a lot... It had lots of time to open up. Bottles will definitely last however long you want to keep them. And it is still developing.

My notes: superb, silky, young, juicy, slow to open, white choc at 20 secs

I only got the white chocolate note after cometspider pointed it out.

I'd love to have cases of the 1986... It's the kind of wine that will be different every time you try it.

The 1986 Leoville las Cases is the best LLC I have ever had. It needs lots of air time but it has always ended up superb + for me.