Le Clos du Marquis is the second wine of Château Léoville Las Cases, the Deuxième Grand Cru Classé of Saint-Julien whose primary wine consistently receives scores of 97-100 points from approved publications and is widely regarded as producing wines of first-growth quality despite its official classification. As a second wine, Clos du Marquis benefits directly from the selection process that produces one of the Médoc’s most consistently celebrated Grand Vins: it is produced from younger vine material and lots that do not meet the Las Cases first-selection criteria, and carries all the estate’s winemaking expertise, terroir quality and Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant house style in a format designed for earlier accessibility than the Grand Vin permits. The 2009 Bordeaux vintage is one of the most celebrated of the modern era, consistently grouped alongside 2010 and 2016 as the defining left-bank vintages of the twenty-first century, and Las Cases performed exceptionally in this year.

At sixteen years from harvest, a 2009 Clos du Marquis represents a mature and complex example of Las Cases’ second wine programme, in a vintage whose exceptional concentration and aromatic richness has provided the development material for wines of unusual secondary complexity even at the second-wine level. The wine should now be showing the secondary and tertiary character of aged Saint-Julien Cabernet Sauvignon at its most rewarding: tobacco, cedar, dried herbs, mineral complexity and the fine, integrated tannin structure that the Las Cases selection and terroir consistently deliver even in the second label.

For collectors who seek mature second-label Bordeaux from one of the Médoc’s finest estates in a great vintage at a price point appropriate for regular enjoyment, the 2009 Clos du Marquis is an outstanding and now approaching its peak drinking proposition.

Garnet with a mature nose of tobacco, cedar, blackcurrant, dried herbs, iron mineral and the distinctive Saint-Julien precision and herbal character of Las Cases’ vineyards at full development. Medium to full-bodied with well-resolved tannins, good residual acidity and a long, herb-edged, classical Médoc finish. Drink now through 2030.