Wow. Really youthful on the nose, with currant, blackberry and hints of vanilla bean. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and lots of mint and fruit. Goes on for a long time. Surprisingly youthful. Give it a couple of years. So focused and beautiful.--'88/'98 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2008). JS

I have drunk two bottles of the 1988 Léoville Las Cases this year, and both showed brilliantly, offering up deep aromas of cassis, cigar wrapper and sweet soil tones, followed by a medium to full-bodied, seamless and velvety palate that has shed its youthful austerity to offer real charm and plenitude. Lively and penetrating, it surpasses the 1989 in quality.

Remarkably, the 1988 Leoville-Las Cases has always been one of the most successful wines of the vintage. In this tasting it clearly outshone all its component parts. With a rich, spicy, fruitcake, cedary, cassis-scented nose, this medium-bodied, moderately tannic Las Cases offers attractive sweetness and suppleness on the palate, a well-delineated and focused personality, and a moderately tannic finish. The wine is just beginning to reveal some aromatic development. It will benefit from another 2-5 years of cellaring and will keep for 20+ years.

The 1988 Léoville Las-Cases is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot (this bottled had been re-corked at the property in 2014). This was a late harvest that began on 4 October and lasted for 12 days. This seems to have matured on the nose since I last tasted it in 2011, more secondary aromas - undergrowth, mushroom and hickory infusing the black fruit. It feels a little rustic now. The palate is medium-bodied with soft tannin, a little dry in the mouth, the fruit having ebbed away in the last few years. I have fonder memories of this in the 1990s and 2000s. There is still a presence here but it feels as if it is drying out on the finish. I felt that this Second Growth was a little inconsistent around this era, especially compared to nowadays. Tasted at the château.