| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pauillac |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
Many have called this the best vineyard in the world and the dynamic Director of Chateau Latour, Frédéric Engerer, is determined to make the greatest wine possible. He has the confidence of owner, François Pinault, to do all that it takes to achieve this aim. Only the best vines from the "enclos" of the vineyard are used for the Grand Vin. There is an outstanding second label - Les Forts de Latour - that is of super-second growth quality, a third wine - Pauillac de Latour - matches well known classed growths and even a very good 4th wine that is Chateau bottled but not released under the Chateau's own label. The policy here is to no longer sell the wines en primeur but to wait until they are mature before they are released. The 2012 should be released in March 2020. This 2018 will need at least 10 years until we see it again, but could it be the new 1959? It combines tannin with cream and is both muscular and elegant. Made from 91% Cabernet Sauvignon with 9% Merlot.
The 2019 Latour is a profound wine in the making, and it will surely emerge as one of the most long-lived wines of the vintage, as well as one of the greatest. Unwinding in the glass with scents of rich cassis fruit, English walnuts, cigar wrapper, black truffle, loamy soil and violets, it’s full-bodied, layered and muscular, with huge depth at the core, ripe tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, seemingly interminable finish. Checking in at 14.1% alcohol, this prodigious Latour will require two decades to hit its stride, but it will be more than worth the wait. 2036 - 2070
The 2019 Latour has a discrete nose that unfurls gradually, taut and fresh, with touches of graphite and cedar. This just wants to underplay everything. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit framed by fine tannins. Very precise though it feels as if it is closing down on the finish. Yet there is clearly a very long aftertaste. A really cerebral Left Bank for long-term consideration. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
The 2019 Latour is a contender for the best wine from this estate in the last 10-15 years. A deep purple colour in the glass, the nose is powerful, rich and layered with intense black fruit wrapped in integrated wood spice, cedar, pipe tobacco and incense. The palate carries the same intensity of fruit, which is ripe and quite rounded for this estate, giving waves of generosity and pleasure against the typical, mouthcoating tannic structure. This is an infant, but the balance reminds me of the perfect 2009. Rarely is a young Latour from a great vintage so seamless and integrated. This balance does not come at the expense of depth - it is very powerful with an evolving finish that is very long. A masterclass of precision and power, this score may look modest in time - this is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. Outstanding.
Composed of 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.5% Merlot, the 2019 Latour is deep garnet-purple in color. It comes barreling out of the glass with powerful notes of blackcurrant jelly, blackberry pie, and plum preserves, followed by suggestions of pencil shavings, cast-iron pan, and charcoal. The medium to full-bodied palate is exquisitely constructed with a myriad of very fine layers, supported by ripe, grainy tannins and beautiful tension, finishing epically long and mineral-laced. It's still very tightly wound and will require at least 5 to 7 more years in cellar, then should age gracefully for a good 50-years+.
Tobacco, liqourice and graphite all spread on toasted sandalwood, cedar, gunsmoke, cassis, black truffle, bilberry, crushed rocks and incense. The tannins here are very much slate and pumice stone, you feel the salt scrape, the length and persistance, and the oh-so-slow unrolling of pleasure. This has graceful depths and floral aromatics alongside Pauillac muscles and is a stellar Latour that needs another three or four years of cellaring to really soften. Overall yield of just under 45hl/h, unusual as the average yield at Latour is closer to 35hl/h. 100% new oak for ageing, 36% of overall production.
Looking at the Grand Vin, the 2019 Château Latour is another perfect wine in the vintage and is as prodigious as they come. Revealing a deep purple hue, it displays a powerful and complex array of pure Pauillac cassis-like fruit as well as lead pencil, graphite, chalky minerality, truffle, and espresso and shows the vintage’s more elegant style perfectly, with nothing out of place. It is medium to full-bodied, with ripe, sweet tannins, but it still has that classic Latour regalness, concentration, structure, and class, with just a hint of its normal youthful austerity. This flawless balanced, structured, insanely good Latour will be drinkable in just 7-8 years but evolve for 40-50 years in cold cellars. Hats off to the team of technical director Hélène Génin and CEO Frédéric Engerer.
Dark blackcurrants with smokey tobacco, liquorice and slate. Cool straight away, fresh but so perfectly mouthfilling, not sweet like 2020, this is more cooling and fresh, blue fruit, black cherry, fleshy like fruit skin texture. Dark, I love the 2019s because they're more controlled and serious but so nuanced. To me this is how a great Pauillac can taste, serious, deep, classic Cabernet markers, lots of minerality in the flint and stoney aspects, strong tannins and a powerful, muscular structure with minty sides. An amazing Pauillac, this is really my style. Still so full of concentration and life, this will last forever.
