Saint Julien Red Bordeaux Blend

The 1982 Léoville Poyferré is a vintage that I have not seen for a while. This bottle is splendid. It is Ferrous on the nose and offers wilted rose petals, asphalt and pencil shavings, now firmly into its secondary aromatic phase yet maintaining impressive delineation and freshness. Maybe a little rustic compared to recent vintages, yet charming. The palate is very well balanced, and there is a touch of Brettanomyces that would be understandable given the warmth of the growing season. Cedar and graphite flourish toward the finish. This is at a peak now, and as I averred before, I would drink these sooner unless you have larger formats on your hands. Tasted at Burns & German's dinner to celebrate The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide book at Medlar. (Neal Martin, Vinous, December 2023)

2015 vintage. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc.

Ripest red cherry and red rose aromatic hybrid. Cherry and strawberry blossoms. Herbaceous basil and tarragon sweetness awash in warm plum and baked currants. Flowering elms with wet black bark. Finally, oak and smoke. Perfect integration on the palate. Ready now but also for the foreseeable. Sweet raspberry and blackberry flash and recede to an obverse tart cherry with incredible indelible, satisfying depth. Sweet tobacco is outlined by Saigon cinnamon, clove, allspice and a strangely sweet pepper dichotomy. Really a perfect wine in every way. Smoke and graphite find a way to bow into the shimmery finish with finesse.



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Currant leaf. Tart but ripe red fruit. Pleasantly musty, very balanced, and generous if not quite ethereal.

UGCB 1/27/23 Plums, cassis. Flavor follow. Full feel

The 2018 Léoville-Poyferré performs similarly to the bottle tasted a few weeks earlier in the UK for my in-bottle round-up, although here I sense more opulence on the nose, perhaps more florality. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins, broad and sensual, plummy with that beguiling symmetry on the finish. It needs several years in bottle but it will be well worth the wait. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)

The 2017 Léoville-Poyferré has a beautifully defined bouquet with mineral-rich red fruit that is utterly refined and focused, a wine that looks as if it will be open for business before the more recalcitrant 2016. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. This is silky smooth in texture with plush black and blue fruit, pinned together by a killer line of acidity and impressive tension on the finish. Not a vintage to be ignored from this estate. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)

The 2016 Léoville-Poyferré appears to have closed up a bit on the nose, perhaps a little cowed by the strong showing of the 2015 on this occasion. It is very pure and begins to unfurl with aeration, but the aromatics are not coming out to play today. The palate is medium-bodied with fine boned tannins, beautifully proportioned and symmetrical. The oak is seamlessly integrated with a citrus touch on the finish. This will be awesome, but it will need time in bottle. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)

The 2014 Léoville-Poyferré is one of the standout Left Bank wines of the vintage. Demonstrating outstanding clarity and freshness on the nose, this seems to just "leap" out of the glass like an over-excited Yorkshire terrier. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, silky smooth in texture, a perfect line of acidity and a harmonious finish that slips down the throat. This is going to be irresistible for the next 20 years. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)

The 2009 Léoville-Poyferré is intense but beautifully controlled on the nose with an enticing but not exotic mélange of red and black fruit laced with pencil box and smoke. Superb intensity. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, brisk and spicy, brimming with energy and fanning out gloriously towards the finish. There is nothing overblown or extravagant, yet it harnesses the precocity of the vintage to glorious effect. Drinking supremely well now and for a number of years. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)