This is one of the great successes of the vintage. However, those with modern day tastes for soft, easy-going, supple wines may not enjoy the 1975 Leoville Las-Cases. Why? It is a tannic, backward, old style wine cut from the mold of such vintages as 1948 and 1928. The color is a dark ruby/garnet with a hint of amber at the edge. The nose offers up distinctive mineral, lead pencil, sweet, blackcurrant scents with flinty overtones. Full-bodied, thick, and concentrated, as well as atypically muscular and powerful, this should prove to be one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage. There are sensational levels of richness and intensity. While the vintage's tough tannin level ensures another 20-35 years of longevity, the wine may dry out by that time. I thought this wine would be at its peak by the mid-nineties, but it still needs another 5-8 years of cellaring. It is a very impressive, albeit backward and hard wine.
-Wine Advocate #103 Feb 1996

(93 pts)
It is fashionable, as well as often justifiable, to criticize this slowly evolving vintage where disappointments outweigh successes, particularly in the Medoc. Perhaps some of the Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines will behave like 1955s or 1928s, but Leoville-Las Cases is unquestionably one of the stars of the vintage. The murky dark ruby/purple/garnet color is followed by a nose with a pronounced mineral/wet stone component intermingled with ripe, earthy, berry fruit (red and black currants galore). Still ferociously tannic to the point of astringency, this medium to full-bodied, concentrated wine reveals no signs of color degradation. The wine is intense and chewy, but still tough-textured. Those who like wines with considerable grip and tannic bite will enjoy this wine at present, but it remains a young wine that has not moved out of adolescence. Anticipated maturity: 1996-2010+
-Wine Advocate #101 Oct 1995