When I first entered wine nearly two decades ago Leoville Las Cases 1985 was the darling of the trade. It was a wine that delivered every single time you popped the cork. In the time between now and then it has, apparently, made time stand still and is just as I recall it being every time I've encountered it in the last twenty years. The nose has a wonderful concentration and still has notes of violets and black fruits. Incredibly closed straight out of the bottle. It is initially quite tight but with great focus. It will happily sit in a decanter for an hour or two to show its best self. The palate is streamlined and long with super fine tannin which are fully resolved. This is one of the great Bordeaux classics that will, dare I say, still improve in bottle. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2035
Tasted by: Gareth Birchley (at London, 15 Feb 2023)
Part of Bordeaux 1980s: Vintage guides plus the wines to seek out

The 1985 Léoville–Las Cases is not just one of the finest vintages from this Second Growth, but one of the high points for the entirety of Bordeaux in this decade. Here it eclipses the 1985 Lafite-Rothschild with ease. It has an exquisitely defined bouquet of red berry fruit infused with crushed stone and pressed rose petals, just like before. Ethereal. The palate is medium-bodied, a perfect marriage of structure and a degree of elegance that maybe the property has not matched before or since. It’s so, so harmonious on the finish. An absolute beauty. Tasted at Hameau de Barbaron in Burgundy. Dec 2019

This, to me, is as close as you can come to textbook claret. The nose is perfectly mature with a hint of fruit but dominated by secondary characteristics, cedar, cigars and tobacco. There is a structure to the palate and a wonderful weight in the mouth, the tannin fine but coarse enough for it to feel unmanipulated. Lovely balance, and just so delicious, this is the finest Barton of the decade and it will hold for another decade or more.

My favorite vintage from this château to drink today is the 1985 Léoville Las Cases. Wafting from the glass with an expressive bouquet of red berries, blackcurrants, pencil shavings, paraffin wax and loamy soil, it's deep, full-bodied and textural, with unusual concentration for the vintage, supple tannins, succulent acids and a long, expansive finish. More giving than the brooding 1986, and more complex than the 1982, the 1985 is in its prime today.

My favorite vintage from this château to drink today is the 1985 Léoville Las Cases. Wafting from the glass with an expressive bouquet of red berries, blackcurrants, pencil shavings, paraffin wax and loamy soil, it's deep, full-bodied and textural, with unusual concentration for the vintage, supple tannins, succulunt acids and a long, expansive finish. More giving than the brooding 1986, and more complex than the 1982, the 1985 is in its prime today. Drink now - 2040. Tasted Feb 2022 - WK 96 points.
Brilliant, fully mature yet beautifully elegant wine of first-growth quality, the 1985 Léoville Las-Cases, which has another decade of aging ability, although it is certainly à point, as the French would say.
-95pts Robert Parker, Hedonists Gazette, January 2005

(94 pts)
The 1985 is a gorgeously open-knit Lascases with a sweet nose of lead pencil, sweet black cherries and currants, and a hint of underbrush and new oak. Medium-to-full-bodied with expansiveness, supple tannins, and outstanding concentration, this is a beautifully made wine that still tastes like it is an adolescent and may even have an ever greater upside as it continues to age. The low acidity and sweet tannins, however, suggest it has entered its plateau of maturity. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.
-Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (4), December 2003

(93 pts)
This is one of my favorite vintages of Las Cases for present day consumption. The wine reveals a youthful deep ruby/purple color, followed by a classic Las Cases bouquet of pain grille, lead pencil, minerals, and ripe black currants. Medium to full-bodied, with outstanding concentration, and soft tannin, this is a classic, fleshy 1985 that reveals none of the potential dilution noticeable in many wines from this vintage. At one time I thought this might turn out to be a modern day clone of the 1953, but it possesses a lot more flesh and intensity.
-Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (3), November 1998

One of the stars of the vintage, this is drinking perfectly today. Delivering its wealth of ripe, juicy, crisp, fresh red fruits in its stern, regal, refined, full-bodied character, 30 minutes in the decanter is all this beauty needs to start singing. Tasted Feb 2020