Château Latour 2019

Dark fruit, Christmas spices, dark tobacco, black olives, prunes, fireplace embers; a dense, ripe-fruited palate, almost two mouthfuls of wine, opulent, with ripe tannins and an almost Tuscan character. It becomes more slender on the mid-palate; the acidity provides support and prevents any heaviness; the finish is of majestic length. An almost exotic Latour, surprisingly approachable.

A seductive sweetness to the fruit on the attack, this waits a heartbeat then explodes out of the glass, overflowing with raspberry, redcurrants, black cherries, cassis and iris flowers. A silky confident and extremely well-controlled Latour where you can feel the precision and the inching forward through the palate of the different elements. It feels both extremely delicate at one level, yet expansive and concentrated, particularly from the mid palate onwards with a grip of tannins that lifts, expands and keeps on going. Those clay-gravel soils have meant there is not a hint of fig or prune, instead it is rich and fresh and very juicy. I love how Latour has re-framed itself in recent years with the move to biodynamics and yet shown that a truly great estate can evolve without losing its brilliance. 100% new oak, tannin count 78IPT, 36% of overall production in the first wine. 98-100.

The aromatic display of flowers, cigar box, smoke, cedar, lead pencil, Indian spices, black with red fruits, and creme de cassis is effortless to delve into. The fruits are bright, fresh, crisp, and mildly peppery, with a dark-chocolate accent on the multi-layered palate, setting the stage for the ripe, bright, supple, vibrant fruits that fill and expand on your palate. All that regal, ripe, sweet fruit and crushed gravel sticks with you almost seamlessly for more than 50 seconds until you reach the endnote, with its salty, mineral-driven kick. The wine was made from a blend of 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.5% Merlot. Drink from 2030-2070.

Dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, subtle brightening on the edge. Delicate floral nuances of candied violets, fresh blackberry confit, fine herbal savouriness, a hint of old wood, candied orange zest. Juicy, fruit texture, ripe cherries and plums, firm tannins, finely structured, pleasant nougat note in the finish. Mineral and fresh, salty finish, already shows great length, will only benefit from further bottle ageing; great future. (2030-2070).

In my initial tasting notes I just wrote: perfect! That sums it up. It’s simply a case of taking the notes from Les Forts and distilling them into this wine. It’s certainly bigger and denser, with a plethora of layers of dark fruit, refined spices, gravelly notes, and more. On the palate, it’s rather massive without any heaviness, with exemplary tannins and a fresh backbone, exceptional purity of fruit, and a never-ending finish.

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.

Tobacco, liquorice 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 persistence, 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 45 hl/ha, unusual as the average yield at Latour is closer to 35 hl/ha. 100% new oak for ageing, 36% of overall production.

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+.

Reserved on the nose, with subtle aromas of ripe raspberries, tobacco, autumn leaves and blood orange. Pure, straightforward fruit on the palate, with a velvety texture and a structure that gradually unfolds into a deliciously indulgent, chocolatey finish. A wine with a magical energy, that knows exactly where it’s going, and for which a life as long as it is rich is predicted.

The 2019 is entering a phase of grace and full bloom, where it has nothing left to prove—only everything left to live. Notes of graphite and cigar box come first, followed by hints of blackberry, blackcurrant, and peppermint, then a touch of licorice. Slightly creamy on the attack, the wine wins you over with its elegant, serene, linear progression, where power and finesse are the best of companions, and where depth and charm remind us they are often great thanks to one another. A Latour that can certainly be enjoyed already, but in my view it is above all here to say that all is well—and that we are absolutely right to keep waiting. A Latour of great elegance, reaffirming its supremacy in marrying subtlety and breadth, with what it takes to span many decades… if you give it the time!

Dark, intense, beautiful colour. The nose is still discreet, yet subtle and noble. Gently mellow on the attack, especially flavourful through the mid-palate, very fruity, with a refined texture and a melting body, the wine glides across the entire palate. It finishes deep, noble, and unspittable. This is greatness! Once again, don’t hesitate to taste it—this vintage is so enjoyable.