By Steffan White & Louis Jones

  • William Kelley says this wine is: “One of the finest wines of the vintage ... It’s a masterpiece’”.  
  • Léoville-Las Cases sits at the apex of the Second Growth pyramid, challenging and regularly surpassing the First Growths of the Médoc for quality.
  • New steward Jean Guillaume-Prats has a clear pricing strategy and ambition to close the price gap on the First Growths.
  • Distressed Seller Parcel – We have secured a parcel from a distressed seller, which we can offer at a substantial discount to release price, to comparatively scored vintages and to fair value.

Léoville Las Cases 2017 – Best Value Vintage

Léoville-Las Cases 2017 leaps off the chart as the standout value pick amongst vintages from the top 'Super Second' St. Julien estate.  

Our distressed seller parcel is priced at only GBP 800 (6x75cl) IB, which makes this vintage is a true outlier on our ‘fair value’ curve (which plots price against critic score). The implied fair value for a 96+ average scoring Léoville-Las Cases is over GBP 1,000 per (6x75cl), which is +25% higher than our offer price.

2017 Bordeaux Vintage: Varying Quality Creates Opportunities for Alert Collectors

The market is yet to wake up to the true potential of the 2017 Bordeaux vintage.  Collectors and investors initially discounted the vintage due to the frosts that affected some wines and reduced yields.  But we believe the vintage-wide dismissal has been overly hasty and (frankly) lazy.  We say 'lazy' because - for those prepared to put the effort in - there are some seriously good finds in 2017 - as we highlighted recently with Lafleur and Cos d’Estournel.    

Léoville-Las Cases 2017 is available today at a considerable discount to comparative vintages. For instance, the 2015 vintage currently has a market value of GBP 935, a premium of +18.4%, for a worse Wine Advocate score.  

Ambitious Leadership of Jean Guillaume-Prats 

In 2022 Jean-Guillaume Prats became vice-president of Domaines Delon, owners of Chateau Léoville Las Cases and is a seasoned figure in the world of fine wines, renowned for his remarkable stewardship at esteemed estates such as Cos d'Estournel and Lafite Rothschild.  At Cos d'Estournel he oversaw a transformation, elevating it to unprecedented heights and cementing its place among the very best of the ‘Super Seconds”. His tenure at LVMH's Estates & Wines division further solidified his reputation as a visionary leader, where he oversaw the expansion and commercial success of iconic wineries across the globe. Later, as CEO of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), Prats brought his wealth of experience to one of Bordeaux's most illustrious names, steering the estate with finesse and securing its position as an archetype of excellence in the world of fine wine. 

Prats' tenure at Lafite Rothschild was marked by a commitment to maintaining and enhancing the estate's reputation for producing exceptional wines, which came hand in hand with a correspondingly high price point. One of his notable executive decisions was to orchestrate the buyback of the 2017 Lafite Rothschild vintage, driving a 20% jump in the price of Lafite Rothschild 2017 within weeks:           

Lafite Buy-Back Rewards Secondary Market Holders

 

We expect that Prats, having been appointed Vice-president of Léoville-Las Cases during the 2021 EP campaign, will aim to maintain his fine form of producing exceptional wines at exceptional price points. The 2022 vintage was Prats first full vintage which he oversaw and released at £1,386, a staggering increase of 42% from £975 in 2021.  This is compared to a 32% EP price rise over the previous 7 years.  Léoville-Las Cases were prepared to use their balance sheet and release limited stock EP to support the EP price.  Could we see the château enter the market to buy undervalued back vintages like 2017?

Knowing Prat’s ambition and his past performance with Lafite Rothschild, it is not unreasonable to expect more price increases as Prat aims to reposition Léoville-Las Cases at the top of the Bordeaux hierarchy. A repeat of his buy-back of 2017 Lafite would see big market movements - and as you can see in the chart above,  this happens quickly so collectors need to position themselves in advance.