CHÂTEAU LÉOVILLE POYFERRÉ
2015 2ème Cru Classé Saint Julien
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc. Tasted several times. It did not particularly shine at the Union tasting, where it was positively slippery in its suppleness, with a fresh raspberry top-note, but deceptively simple-seeming. At the château it appeared more filled out, with a bit more sweetness and a lot more weight. The precision is all there, and a spicy interest in the middle too suggests a very primary but really excellent Poyferré. Wonderfully long. Rating: 93-94 L&S (Apr 2016)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2015 Léoville Poyferré is a delightful Saint-Julien that instantly has you smitten. Vivacious red fruit, briary and orange pith aromas unfold in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with svelte tannins (like before). It is very harmonious and poised with a finish that just sashays along without a care in the world. Wonderful. Tasted at the 2015 Ten-Year-On tasting at Bordeaux Index. Drinking range: 2025 - 2050 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2025)
The 2015 Léoville-Poyferré has more fruit intensity and swagger on the nose compared to the previous vintage with luxuriant red berry fruit, orange blossom and vanilla pod. The oak is not becoming more assimilated. The palate is medium-bodied with svelte tannins, sweet and sensual, maybe it does not quite possess the tension of the 2014, yet there is such weight and harmony on the finish that this is nigh impossible to resist. Gorgeous. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. Drinking range: 2022 - 2050 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Sept 2022)
Right off the first nose, this is young, generous, powerful yet subtle, nuanced, full of grace and power. Raspberry and blackberry fruits feel open and generous right now, so you could take advantage of this window and drink it over the next year or so with a carafe, but those tannins are menacing and hinting that pretty soon the fist will close around the fruit. Smoked cedar fills out the mid palate. Excellent. Harvest September 24 to October 10. 80% new oak. Drinking range: 2025 - 2048 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter (Sept 2021)
The 2015 Léoville Poyferré has a very backward nose, perhaps with a little more new oak to be subsumed compared to its peers, indicating that this is Poyferré. The fresh, focused palate is very well defined, displaying supple tannin and a fine bead of acidity. The almost understated, lip-smackingly saline finish is pure class. This is a very fine Saint-Julien. Chapeau, Didier Cuvelier. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2019)
A rich and intense red with blackberries, tar and spices. Black tea and blueberries. Full-bodied, very layered and multi-dimensional. Very long and flavorful. Such great texture. A dynamic and superb red. Drinking range: 2023 - Rating: 96 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2018)
The 2015 Léoville-Poyferré is spectacular. Inky, dense and explosive, the 2015 possesses off the chart richness, with soft contours, no hard edges and exceptional balance. All the elements are simply fused together. inky blue/purplish fruit, chocolate, new leather, blueberry jam, exotic spice and violet notes are all beautifully delineated throughout. Fresh, vibrant and totally sexy, Léoville-Poyferré is one of the wines of the vintage. Don't miss it! Tasted two times. Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)
Deep crimson. Sweet and round and polished – so extraordinarily different from Léoville Barton! There is some gravelly texture but it's overlaid with fruit and come-hither appeal. Although this is much more restrained than some vintages. Drinking range: 2024 - 2040 Rating: 18 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2017)
Ripe and slightly jammy, with lots of oak and tannin, this is a good rather than a great Léoville-Poyferré. There’s a figgy note to the fruit, too, but the underlying structure is good, with freshness on the finish and firm, fine-grained tannins. Drinking range: 2021 - 2028 Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
This is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. Harvest was September 24th to October 10th, the yield was 48.17 hl/ha. A very fresh style on the nose, quite convincing, with sooty-dusty blackcurrant and damson fruit, tense with borderline ripeness, A pure and defined palate, very direct, a pencil-drawn frame of pointed ripe tannins, bolstered by the vanillin oak, along with a fresh and lifted fruit character. I get notes of just-ripe blackcurrant with a touch of juniper, and a medium-bodied presence. An attractive wine, loaded with ripe tannins at the end, and certainly showing some potential. An impressive wine for the vintage. Tasted twice. Rating: 16-17/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
Lovely concentration of fruit already showing excellent florality, purity and density. Robustly elegant in the Poyferré style – ‘juicy and silky’, according to owner Didier Cuvelier. This is one for the long term. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 95 Steven Spurrier (Apr 2016)
Deep purple. Glowing. Flattering nose but without the undertow of some. Lots of energy and just a hint of sweet oak. A solid performance. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 16.5++ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Léoville Poyferré is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc that was harvested between 24 September and 10 October. The IPT comes in at 80 with a pH 3.69. It has a typical Léoville-Poyferré bouquet at this stage: quite bullish and forthright, packed full of dense black cherries, red plum and cassis, the 85% new oak pronounced, but will be subsumed with bottle age. The palate is full-bodied with mouth-coating tannin: layers of graphite-infused black fruit, cedar and mint, almost Pauillac-like in personality with a sustained graphite finish. This is a sophisticated Saint Julien built for long-term ageing, perhaps less flamboyant than recent vintages, but the terroir shows through. Expect it to land at the top of my banded score, possibly higher. Drinking range: 2027 - 2050 Rating: 92-94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Léoville-Poyferré is simply magnificent. Rich, creamy and voluptuous in the glass, the 2015 captures all the best qualities of the vintage in spades. Layers of flavor blossom in the glass as the wine fill out its broad-shouldered frame with impeccable grace. A host of floral notes, including violet, lavender and rose petal grace the utterly exquisite finish. There is so much to like here. Specifically, the interplay of ripeness, texture and freshness is compelling. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Rating: 93-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
This features depth and focus, with a really solid core of currant and blackberry lined with ample iron and briar notes. Not shy with the toast, but the finish is energetic, and everything is pulling together. Rating: 92—95 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)
A dense and savory red with plenty of phenolic texture and ripe fruit character. Hints of walnut and spice too. Chewy finish. Solid center palate. Rating: 95-96 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2016)
Château Léoville Poyferré
St Julien Deuxième cru 1855 When Baron Jean-Marie de Poyferré de Cères married the grand-daughter of the Marquis de Las-Cases-Beauvoir, he inherited a portion of the grand old Leoville estate. The Poyferré family owned the estate for long enough to see the granting of Second Growth status in common with the other Leovilles but, in time, oidium and financial difficulties led them to sell Leoville Poyferré. Eventually, it came in to the ownership of the Cuvelier family who own Poyferré to this day. For most of the 20th Century, compared to its namesake neighbours, Leoville Poyferré's fortunes waned as the quality of the wines fell back. Since 1980, however, considerable improvements have been made to the chais and the vineyards. The previously high proportion of Merlot has reduced, whilst the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon has risen to about 65% (Merlot is now a more Médoc-like 25%). Today, Leoville Poyferré can be seen on an equal footing with, at least, Leoville Barton. Grapes are fermented in stainless-steel, and then spend 18 to 20 months in oak (75% new). In the early years on the 20th Century, the cru bourgeois property of Château Moulin Riche was absorbed into Leoville Poyferré. The name was briefly resurrected as the name of Poyferré's second wine, although it is now produced as a wine in its own right from the vineyards of the old château. A second wine of both properties is Pavillon de Poyferré.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.