Château Leoville-Poyferré

Owned by the Cuvelier family since 1921, the third of the Léoville’s has been regarded as the most lightweight for decades. That changed when Didier Cuvelier took charge in the 1970’s, and a period of continuous improvement now sees this château amongst the finest châteaux of St-Julien. For me this was one of wines of the vintage. Aged in 80% new oak, a big impressive and weighty wine, richly structured, voluptuous and generous.

The bouquet is complex, redolent of hedgerow fruits with hints of red berries alongside, and a key feature here is the wonderful persistence of flavour along with the very fine-grained tannins.

Enjoy with a classic beef wellington.

One of the prodigious wines of the vintage, the Cuvelier family has produced an outstanding 2010 that must tip the scales at 14.5+% alcohol. It boasts an opaque purple color in addition to a sweet perfume of spring flowers, black raspberries, creme de cassis and a hint of spicy oak. This seamlessly constructed St.-Julien possesses massive concentration, moderately high tannins, abundant glycerin, an unctuous texture, remarkably fresh acids and wonderful precision. It will benefit from 5-6 years of cellaring and last 30-35 years. 95-98/100`. - Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate #194. Decanter 2020 97/100 points.