The dark ruby/garnet-colored 1975 Latour offers up a dry, mineral, tobacco, stony-scented nose with red and black currants competing with cedar, spice box, and balsam wood aromas. Hard and dense in the mouth, with tough, astringent tannin, a steely constitution, plenty of concentration, but an unflattering, backward style, this youthful 1975 is capable of lasting two more decades. Will it become increasingly attenuated and hard? Anticipated maturity: now-2020.
The Latour 1975 appears to be one of the few sure bets among the relatively hard, disappointing 1975 Pauillacs. The color remains a healthy dark ruby, opaque garnet. The nose offers up classic walnut, cedar, minerals, tobacco, and cassis aromas. Although this full-bodied wine is still excruciatingly tannic, I detected plenty of glycerin, extract, and richness, which gives me cause for optimism. Nevertheless, it will always be a wine with a firm, tannic edge. Drinkable if decanted several hours in advance, this wine should be cellared until the turn of the century and drunk during the following 3 decades.