Andrew Jefford | Saturated midnight black-red. The aromas clearly betray the vintage, with a green cast behind the blackcurrant fruits to accentuate the freshness and poise. These scents are attractive, but they don’t quite “surmount” the vintage in the way that the best of the wine’s peers manage. There’s some clove and nutmeg spice, too, though, making the overall aromatic personality a complex and attractive one. On the palate, it’s firm and forthright, a touch craggy, with prominent acidity from which the green cast has not quite been wholly expunged. Aristocratic and challenging, this Las-Cases is moderately tannic and leanly muscular, with impressive depth and density. It’s a mid- to long-term wine, though the fruit is unlikely to shed its cool reserve at any point. 2018–27. | 91

Michael Schuster | Stylish, complex, aromatic nose, gravelly, youthful, but full of promise; concentrated, medium-full wine, firm in both acidity and tannin, a fine, long-term balance; deep and tasty, intense in flavor without being strong, long, aromatic, complex, tenacious, and classy, but a wine that will benefit from decades in bottle, and with excellent, gravelly, aromatic persistence. Long-term, nudging first-growth quality in length and scope, but leave for 15 years to even begin to get the full, mature pleasure that it promises. 2032–50+. | 94