Chateau Latour 2010

Even Latour comes across as remarkably classic, certainly richer than usual, as befits the vintage and the general trend, yet with real, juicy Latour tannins and a long, smoky-fruited finish. A great wine, priced beyond paradise.

The dark plum sauce, blackberry coulis and steeped cherry fruit is laced with hints of with iron, roasted cedar and sweet tobacco. Well-coiled acidity helps the finish spring to life. Has some grip, but quite enjoyable overall. Drink now through 2025.

Stern, almost severe initially, this great wine takes time to show its immense fruit power. Black currant and blackberry notes are packed into the wine, along with an impressive array of spices from new wood that gives a more exotic element. At the end, though, it has a fine, structured sense of proportion. Obviously for aging over decades, so don't drink before 2022.

Just over a third of the harvest made it into the grand vin to give a wine of startling concentration and purity, with lovely, forward cassis fruit and a hint of spice on the attack. The texture is fresh but not overly tannic, and there is a surprisingly sweet, silky feel cloaking the powerful extract. Best to wait another decade before trying this, but it will last a half-century beyond that. Moderate temperatures followed a flowering disrupted slightly by cool weather and rain. The summer was dry and sunny, if somewhat cool. The Merlot was picked beginning on the 20th of September and the Cabernet 4th of October. The final blend is just over 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with most of the balance being Merlot.

The aromas of flowers such as roses, violets and lilacs jump from the glass then turn to dark berries such as blueberries and blackberries. It's full-bodied, with velvety tannins and dense and intense with a chocolate, berry and currant character. This is juicy and rich with wood still showing a bit, but it's all coming together wonderfully. Muscular yet toned. Another perfect wine like the 2010. Try in 2022.

The 2010 Latour can be summed up in two words: “The king.” It convincingly asserts its superiority over other 2010s, including First Growths, in terms of its aromatic complexity, precision, balance, intensity, complexity and persistence. Simply a faultless Latour that ranks among its greatest achievements. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.

Still showing a good depth of color, the wine pops with nuances of black currants, aged Cuban cigars, herbs, flowers, and oceanic influences. On the palate, the wine coats your palate with powerful layers of creamy, vibrant, refined, regal fruits with a touch of salt. The seamless finish delivers a non-stop barrage of black and red fruits that build, expand, and linger. This is the type of wine that stops you in your tracks, makes you think, and return for another swirl, sniff, and sip, because you could not believe the wine was that good. Still, an adolescent, another decade in the bottle will create an even better tasting experience. Drink from 2032-2075.

The 2010 Château Latour is a monumental wine that exemplifies what greatness in Bordeaux can be. Still deep ruby/purple in color, it offers a stunning bouquet of blackcurrants, tobacco leaf, leather, and graphite. Full-bodied and deeply concentrated, it has a layered, expansive mouthfeel, building tannins, and the unmistakable class and regalness that define Latour. Just now entering the early stages of its prime, this beauty will be drinking brilliantly long after I’m gone. Drink 2025-2100.

90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot, 0.5% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc. 36% Grand Vin. Very dark garnet with violet and black highlights, concentrated at the core. A noble Cabernet bouquet, subtly cool and somewhat reserved, with notes of truffle, Bakelite and black plum; it feels lofty, showing a clear, classic Latour aromatic profile. Broad on the palate, lots of flesh, a demanding yet already quite pleasant astringency; a hint of blueberry, more black-berry fruit; it shows muscle and edges and is not unlike the 1988 in its fundamentals, but with more alcohol, tannin and acidity.

90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot, 0.5% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc. 36% Grand Vin. Very dark garnet with violet and black highlights, dense at the core. A noble Cabernet bouquet, subtly cool and rather reserved, with notes of truffle, Bakelite and black plums; it feels majestic, showing a clear, classic Latour aromatic profile. Big on the palate, plenty of flesh, demanding yet already quite pleasant astringency; one-third blue-berried fruit, two-thirds black-berried fruit. It shows muscle and edges and, in its fundamentals, is not unlike the 1988—just with more alcohol, tannins and acidity. You need to leave the case nailed shut for 20 years if you don’t want to miss a large part of what lies hidden within. After so many years of polished en primeur showings, this is once again a truly hulking, old-school Latour. If I factor in a possible full drinking maturity, I’ll probably have to drink it in a retirement home.

(90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot, 0.5% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc; 36% of the harvest was used for the Grand Vin) A concentrated, mineral, brooding bouquet with notes of liquorice, black berries, dark tobacco, flint, leather, truffle and mahogany. The palate is velvety, dense, powerful and highly layered, with compact, dark fruit, plenty of fine tannin and a tightly wound, dark aromatic profile. Very long, opulent finish with excellent persistence. With age, it may reach the maximum score. 19/20 2020 - 2045

This is still revving up to reach its drinking window, and although for now it is showing just a touch below the 2009 vintage, don't be surprised if it overtakes it within the next decade. It demands patience though. Classic brooding, muscular, concentrated old school Latour, uncompromising in its sculpted tannins and bristling blueberry and cassis fruits. 36% of overall production.

The wine is deep dark in color, with an intense, spicy, fascinating nose, underpinned by blackcurrant and blueberry. On the palate, a great Latour emerges: dense, tannic, tightly knit, rigorous, long and supremely classic. Latour, pure and simple.

Logo on the cork: an inverted T (Trescases) Tasted blind, not decanted. Dark, intense, even, youthful colour. Intense nose with ripe, smooth fruit. Soft on the attack, delicate on the mid-palate, very aromatic and dense, the wine builds progressively through the finish, ending powerfully with tannins that are slightly austere. Needs to be left to age.

One of the perfect wines of the vintage, Frederic Engerer challenged me when I tasted the 2010 Latour at the estate, asking, “If you rate the 2009 one hundred, then how can this not be higher?” Well, the scoring system stops at 100, (and has for 34 years,) and will continue for as long as I continue to write about wine. Nevertheless, this blend of 90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.5% Merlot, and .5% Petit Verdot hit 14.4% natural alcohol and represents a tiny 36% of their entire production. The pH is about 3.6, which is normal compared to the 3.8 pH of the 2009, that wine being slightly lower in alcohol, hence the combination that makes it more flamboyant and accessible. The 2010 is a liquid skyscraper in the mouth, building layers upon layers of extravagant, if not over-the-top richness with its hints of subtle charcoal, truffle, blackberry, cassis, espresso and notes of toast and graphite. Full-bodied, with wonderfully sweet tannin, it is a mind-boggling, prodigious achievement that should hit its prime in about 15 years, and last for 50 to 100. There is no denying the outrage and recriminations over the decision by the Pinault family and their administrator, Frederic Engerer, to pull Latour off the futures market next year. However, you can still buy these 2010s, although the first two wines are not likely to be released until they have more maturity, which makes sense from my perspective. Perhaps Latour may have offended a few loyal customers who were buying wines as futures, but they are trying to curtail all the interim speculation that occurs with great vintages of their wines (although only God knows what a great vintage of future Latour will bring at seven or eight years after the harvest). As a set of wines, the 2010s may be the Pinaults’ and Engerer’s greatest achievements to date. Of course, I suspect the other first-growth families won’t want to hear that, nor will most of the negociants in Bordeaux, but it’s just the way things are. Frederic Engerer, by no means the most modest of administrators at the first growths, thinks it would be virtually impossible to produce a wine better than this, and he may well be correct. If they gave out Academy Awards for great performances in wine, the Pinaults and Engerer would certainly fetch a few in 2010. P.S. Just so you don’t worry, Engerer offered up the 2009 next to the 2010 to see if I thought it was still a 100-point wine, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, it still is.