2018 is another vintage where it`s pretty much impossible to find fault with Las Cases, and where you get a kick of happiness from tasting it. Owner Jean-Hubert Delon compares the 2016 to the 1961 and the 2018 to the 1959 - let`s all check back in a few decades to see if that`s true! But where the 2016 was monumental, this has a subtlety that`s rarely seen in such a young LLC. It`s not that you`d call this approachable but you rarely see this level of plush density to the fruit at this stage. There`s a civilised quality to the structure that makes you think, just maybe, the 2018 will be at optimum drinking before the 2016. You`re still getting the complex cigar box and cassis aromatics, with deep, rippling black fruits on the palate accompanied by a cassis and liquorice whoosh and the layering up of dense but fine tannins. It demonstrates precise balance and an exceptionally long finish. All in all, this is a standout St-Julien.This year sees the lowest percentage of press wine ever used at this estate, coming in at under 3% (it`s normally double this), because the wine already had so much structure that the normal level of press wine threw it out of balance. I`m pretty sure that I`ve never given a drinking window this early for LLC at En Primeur, which says something. 90% new oak. 80IPT. 3.65pH. Yield of 35.5hl/ha. 98 points

80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot. 90% new oak, pH 3.65. Black core with narrow purple rim. A moment of hush needed here. So dark and so intense but also with incredible beauty in its restraint. Silky even with so many layers of tannin. pH 3.65 – quite a miracle in 2018. So dry but so not drying. The freshness from both the pH and the tannins. So fine, it just slides across the palate even if the tannin level is high. A wine of great power and restraint, and tannic finesse. Opens to a tiny note of wild herbs even though it is perfectly ripe, more aromatic as it opens. 18.5 points

`We produced great Cabernet Franc this year,` Directeur Général Pierre Graffeuille told me during my visit to Léoville Las Cases. Even though only 3% of the press wine was added back, he was also absolutely glowing about the quality of this too. And he should be—the finished blend for the 2018 Léoville Las Cases is yet another triumph for this great estate. Composed of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 9% Merlot, harvested September 15 to October 4 with yields of 35.5 hectoliters per hectare, it has 14.49% alcohol and will be aged in barriques, 90% new. Very deep purple-black in color, it is a little closed to begin, slowly emerging from the glass to reveal subtle woodsmoke, violets, tilled soil and underbrush scents over a core of warm cassis, wild blueberries and redcurrant jelly plus hints of rare beef and iron ore. Full-bodied, rich, super concentrated and bursting with latent energy, this is an atomic bomb waiting to go off in your mouth. It has a rock-solid foundation of firm, very ripe, very finely grained tannins and bold freshness supporting the muscular fruit through the epically long, amazingly nuanced finish. Simply breathtaking. 98-100 points