The 2015 Les Forts de Latour was picked from 15 September to 10 October, commencing with the Merlot and finishing with the Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle correlates closely to the one that I tasted blind in January 2019. There is a mixture of blackberry, graphite and cedar on the nose, very well defined and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins, a mixture of red and black fruit with superb mineralité and lip-smacking salinity. Velvety in texture, this is wonderfully poised with great persistence on the finish. Excellent. Drink 2021-2038
Aromas of iron, rust and hot stones with currants and dark berries follow through to a full body, firm and ultra-silky tannins and a long and polished finish. Racy and driven. Drink in 2022.
Made from 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35.6% Merlot, 0.9% Petit Verdot, and 0.5% Cabernet France, the 2015 Les Forts de Latour is deep garnet in color. It springs with bold notions of warm cassis, stewed plums, and boysenberry preserves, leading to wafts of charcuterie, Indian spices, and fragrant earth. The medium-bodied palate is both confident and elegant with expressive black fruits and spicy layers plus a plush, very fine-grained texture, finishing with a refreshing lift.
Deep polished crimson. High toned and super-classy on the nose. More zip and energy than the Pauillac de Ch Latour 2016. Very mineral and sumptuous. What's not to like? It has such breadth and ripeness that you could certainly drink it tonight. There's an attractive iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove quality about it. Positively throbs with energy. A little saline quality on the end. Another wine with an admirably persistent finish. All that stony minerality plus a bit more flesh than usual. Great stuff! I don't see any of the green notes I detected at the Southwold tasting two years ago. Though the tannins on the end are still very slightly drying. 13%
Drink 2021 – 2040
First produced in 1966, this is not really a second wine as it is produced from separate parts of the vineyard which contain many old vines, as well as from some vats that are not quite up to the standards of the Grand Vin de Château Latour. Grapes from the vineyard's young vines do not go into Les Forts de Latour but are used for a generic Pauillac third label. Clearly the equivalent of a top classed growth. Under Frédéric Engerer's management, Les Forts de Latour has continued to improve in quality and recent vintages have been at "super-second growth" levels. This wine will not be sold En Primeur but kept at the Chateau until it is mature. In 2015 the Forts represents 40% of Latour's total production with 30% going into the third wine "Pauillac de Latour". The Chateau also produce a fourth wine that is sold without the Latour name on the label. The blend, this year, is 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep purple colour with a charred nose of roasted meat, blueberry and blackcurrant. This has a deep and brooding aromatic profile. The palate has a pure Cabernet cassis fruit core with underlays of clove, cinnamon and sage. The intensity of flavour and power of tannin brings a real concentration and yet refinement, with the firm tannins adding a savoury level of complexity. The mouthcoating texture softens on the finish to reveal yet more black fruit and additional smoky notes from the new oak. The finish is long and powerful, a towering wine that will reward cellaring and justify a late release!
Brooding black fruits the nose has concentrated depth the palate a rich mix of black cherry and cassis. Although the tannins are firm there is mid sweetness suppleness and flesh the richness of the fruit balanced by bramble freshness. Bright and light at the back there is purity of flavour with sweeter rich fruit giving depth and richness on the finish.
Showing much more power and concentration than the 2014 at this stage, Latour’s second
wine is quite closed at the moment: dense, brooding and compact with excellent underlying
fruit and acidity. It just needs time to come together. Drink: 2022-32
This is a tight, sour Les Forts with stunning tension between the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot, augmented by a
dusting of spice coming from the Cabernet Franc and the Petit Verdot. The tannins are very focussed and sharp and this
leads me to believe that this will be a particularly long-lived Les Forts but, like its Pauillac third wine sibling, it is more red
than black. The oak is again exotic and perfumed and the length is considerable, but it is more related to its diminutive
sibling rather than its noble father.
The 2015 Les Forts de Latour has a little more fruit intensity than its peers, offering blackberry, graphite and cedar – all quintessential Pauillac – though it would benefit from a tad more precision. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grip, beautiful balance and polished blackberry and bilberry fruit toward the finish, where a tang of salinity lends tension. This is an outstanding Les Forts de Latour. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.
The 2015 Les Forts de Latour has a very sophisticated bouquet with that subtle marine-like influence upon the black fruit, hints of graphite and pencil box, all extremely well defined if much tighter and more backward than I was anticipating. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, denser than the 2014 Les Forts de Latour, yet still quite sensual for a Pauillac with a caressing texture. There is excellent freshness here, partly due to the fact that these days they are picking some parcels a little earlier. As it did in barrel, it fans out wonderfully toward the finish, but what I really like here is the unusually long aftertaste, residues of graphite and black fruit lingering for 45+ seconds after the wine has departed. Superb. Anticipated maturity: 2022 - 2045.
The 2015 Les Forts de Latour is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35.6% Merlot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc and 0.9% Petit Verdot, representing 40% of the production. It has a very succinct bouquet, quite understated for Les Forts de Latour with a marine influence filtering through the dark plum and briary fruit. The palate is medium-bodied and beautifully balanced, not huge depth here but harmonious and sensual, fanning out gently with graphite-tinged black fruit that linger long in the mouth. This is a classy Les Forts de Latour that will age gracefully over 20 years or more. Drink 2022-2045
Very fruity and lifted with bright and floral aromas and flavors. Full and velvety. Gorgeous finish. Very pure and focused. Pretty Les Forts.
Composed of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35.6% Merlot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc and 0.9% Petit Verdot, the 2015 Les Forts de Latour needs a fair bit of air to unlock a profound, powerhouse nose of blackcurrant cordial, boysenberries, plum preserves and dark chocolate, with suggestions of Chinese five spice, clove oil, violets and crushed rocks. The palate packs an absolute flavor wallop, bursting with rich, ripe black fruits and loads of spicy sparks, while framed by beautifully plush tannins, finishing long and minerally. Not at all heavy, on the contrary, the Les Forts is both expansive AND tantalizingly refreshing. In terms of evolution, it has barely budged since I last tasted it in 2017. While it's drinking very well right now, it easily has a good 20 years of cellaring ahead, maybe more. Impressive.
Tasted blind. Crimson. Sweet and rather flashy, but the tannins are a bit raw. Dusty and edgy. Green notes.
Drink 2025-2040
They are picking these grapes earlier nowadays.
Dark crimson. Very sumptuous nose. Massive sweetness on the front palate and then Pauillac stoniness. A real charmer. Lots of vigour and punch. Complete and very dry. Needs lots of time.
Drink 2025-2040
