Wine Advisor
Clos du Marquis 1996
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
A terrific Clos du Marquis, and clearly of second or third-growth quality, this dark purple-colored wine reveals structure, brooding backwardness, and rich, expansive character. The wine exhibits plenty of sweet kirsch black currant fruit intermixed with high quality, subtle new oak, and steely, mineral characteristics. Rich and medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannin, this is a dazzling Clos du Marquis. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2018.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
A little lean out of the gates, the 1996 Clos du Marquis fleshes out in the decanter considerably, offering up aromas of cassis, loamy soil, cigar wrapper and pencil shavings, followed by a medium-bodied, fleshy palate with an ample core that's girdled by chalky tannins and lively acids. This is a fine success.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Roberson’s Las-Cases vertical. The ’96 Clos du Marquis has an intriguing bouquet, muted at first but opening nicely, a little surly but opening up with cedar, graphite and crushed stone. It just blossoms with time in the glass. The palate is very impressive with ebullient ripe blackcurrant, dark cherry, graphite and freshly rolled tobacco. After 14-years it has certainly mellowed and is firmly on its drinking plateau, the finish very harmonious with a touch of vanillary new oak remaining on the finish. Tasted February 2011.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1996 Clos du Marquis is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon (lower than recent vintages), 33% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot (that usually goes into Leoville-Las Cases). Much like the 1996 Potensac that I tasted alongside at the château, the nose is youthful and backward with blackberry, freshly tilled soil, cedar and tobacco scents that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with a smooth entry, plenty of crisp and pure black fruit laced with cedar, harmonious and long. This is a great Saint Julien at 20 years of age, firing on all cylinders and, to be honest, surpassing some of the Grand Vins in this vintage. Probably still available at a decent price, this comes thoroughly recommended. Tasted July 2016.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at Farr’s horizontal, vindicating it as one of my favourite Clos du Marquis. The nose is rather muted: blackberry, touch of fig and dried leaves. Good definition. Full-bodied palate, good depth, fine extraction and delineation. Cedar, blackberry, touch of tar. Finely balanced and stylish, though classically lined. Needs another 3-4 years but great potential. Tasted September 2006.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
As I have indicated numerous times in this journal, the second wine of Las Cases, Clos du Marquis, is one of the finest second wines being made in Bordeaux. Over recent years, it has become a wine of classified growth quality. The 1996 may turn out to be even better than the outstanding 1995. Both are exceptional wines, with the 1996 slightly thicker and more viscous, with more noticeable new oak, as well as more massive body, and a blockbuster finish. In contrast, the 1995 is the quintessentially elegant style of Las Cases, with copious quantities of sweet fruit, outstanding depth, ripeness, and overall equilibrium, but no sense of heaviness. Like so many of this estate's great wines, everything is in proper proportion, with the acidity, alcohol, and tannin well-integrated. The 1996 should hit its peak at the turn of the century and last for 15 or more years.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The quality level of the second wine of Leoville-Las Cases is unquestionably better than some of Bordeaux's famed 1855 classification's second and third growths. The 1996 Clos du Marquis boasts a thick black/purple color, as well as a huge, soaring set of aromatics consisting of cherry liqueur and blackcurrants. The wine is thick, rich, and tannic, but marvelously well-balanced and long in the mouth. This wine will need 4-6 years of cellaring, and keep for two decades. Readers may remember that I was equally amazed by the 1995 Clos du Marquis. Michel Delon has done it again!
Reviewed by: William Kelley
From my own cellar, the 1996 Clos du Marquis has sometimes been a wine that I have respected more than I have liked, yet in the last year, it appears to have undergone a transformation into a much more generous wine. Wafting from the glass with aromas of cherries, cassis, mint and sweet soil tones, my most recent bottle was medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a deep core of fruit, supple tannins and a long, saline finish. If this trend continues, the 1996 is liable to displace the 1985 as my favorite mature vintage of Clos du Marquis.
1983(1)1990(2)1995(1)
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