1982 Château Léoville Las Cases Grand Vin Saint-Julien 2nd Grand Cru Classé 750 ml

Seven 100pt Love Letters From Parker

Between 1993 and 2003, Robert Parker scored the 1982 Château Léoville Las Cases 100 points on seven separate occasions. In the process, he penned a series of love letters containing some of the most lavish praise the critic has put to paper (see below). “The finest Leoville-Las-Cases ever made.”

In one of the rarest and most incredible Chateau-direct imports to the U.S., we’ve secured 36 bottles of the supremely scarce, historic 1982 Léoville Las Cases — the greatest and most consequential vintage of the last century. Direct from the cold cellars of the 17th century château, and imported only in unbroken wooden cases — further guaranteeing perfect condition and perfect provenance. A once-in-a-generation, priceless heirloom of 20th century greatness. Can you feel the goosebumps?

The 1982 growing season was perfect, and it changed wine history. The vintage’s legacy will be forever intertwined with Parker’s, as it famously made his career. The critic’s unqualified praise of the massively concentrated ’82s sparked a buying frenzy among American collectors, tripling prices and inaugurating a new era of ripeness in Bordeaux.

Today, Léoville Las Cases’s sole proprietor, Jean-Hubert Delon — whose family has managed the property since the 19th century — oversees the château’s crown jewel: the 135-acre “Clos Léoville Las Cases” parcel. Offering awesome complexity thanks to diverse gravel-sand-clay soil composition and a unique microclimate from the Gironde River, the terroir is comparable only to Château Latour, which abuts the vineyard to the north, separated by a thin stream.

Most agree that the 1855 classification erred in not granting Léoville Las Cases First Growth status. “If a single wine estate in Bordeaux today were to be promoted to the rank of Premier Cru Classé, Léoville las Cases would be the choice of most claret connoisseurs,” wrote James Suckling in Wine Spectator.  

For a short window today, a select few Wine Access clients will have a shot at the ne plus ultra legendary 1982 Médoc, straight from the cellars, until now tasted only by critics and ultra-wealthy collectors — sold in immaculately preserved, unbroken wooden 12-bottle boxes.