Château Léoville Las Cases

The château

Léoville was carved out of the older domaine of Mont-Moytié, and it was famous whole before it was famous in pieces. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, ranked Léoville a second growth that year, at 2,000 to 2,100 francs the tonneau (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and printed it as Léoville ou Labadie, 1 name over 4 owners; André Jullien, the Paris wine merchant whose Topographie de tous les vignobles connus surveyed the vineyards of the world, ranked it second again in 1832, at 150 to 180 tonneaux. Both books went to print before the estate was fully divided, and both put it where the brokers would put it in 1855. The Revolution started the break-up, and the division ran from 1826 to 1840; the Las Cases family kept the largest share, three fifths of the original, and held it through Pierre Jean, Adolphe and Gabriel until 1900.

That year Théophile Skawinski bought a share and became manager, and the Delons came in when André Delon married into the Skawinski family. Jean-Hubert Delon is sole owner today, as he is of Potensac in the Médoc and Nénin in Pomerol.

Almost the whole vineyard is one block, the walled Grand Clos along the boundary of Château Latour, on Quaternary gravel over gravelly sand and clay that sometimes comes to the surface. It covers 55 hectares at 8,600 vines a hectare, the vines 52 years old on average, planted 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc. Le Petit Lion, made since the 2007 vintage, is the second wine, and it exists so that the grand vin (the estate’s first wine) can be selected harder. Clos du Marquis is something else: a separate vineyard of the Delon estates, with its own first vintage in 1902.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Julien

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855; Michelin Guide, 3 grapes (2026)

Owner

Jean-Hubert Delon; the same family since 1900

Vineyard

55 hectares, almost all in the walled Grand Clos; 8,600 vines a hectare; vines 52 years old on average

Soil

Quaternary gravel over gravelly sand and clay Terroir of Saint-Julien →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Merlot 21%, Cabernet Franc 9%

Wines

Château Léoville Las Cases; Le Petit Lion, since 2007

In history

A second growth for William Franck in 1824 and for André Jullien in 1832