| 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. Production levels have been slashed in recent vintages with only the best parcels of vines now producing grapes for the Grand Vin. The policy here is to no longer sell the wines en primeur but to wait until they are mature before they are released.
The 2017 Latour, which was bottled mid-June and mid-July, has a tightly wound bouquet with black fruit, pencil lead and a strong marine influence. This is utterly compelling. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, what you may call an "athletic" Latour. There is no "fat" hear, just pure black mineral-infused fruit with quintessential Pauillac notes of graphite and a touch of cedar on the persistent finish. Superb. Drink 2024-2060.
Tasted blind. Deep ruby colour. Subtle and fragrant nose with wonderfully delineated black fruit and savoury spice. The impression is savoury yet youthful. Intense drive and focus is immediate on the palate. There is such energy and vibrancy yet the cassis fruit at the core remains ripe and rich. Mouth-coating tannins would detract from this refinement if it weren’t for their ripe and fine-grained nature. A remarkable feat in this vintage to find such ripeness and structure without excess. Harmonious and long. Drink 2027 – 2042
Ripe and very powerful aromas of black licorice, currants and violets. Full-bodied, dense and flavorful with lots of very new, flashy wood. Sexy and gorgeous. Round and polished tannins. Superb wine for the vintage. Try after 2028.
A blend of 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8% Merlot, and 0.1% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Latour is deep garnet in color. It needs just a bit of convincing to get it to reveal gorgeous notes of warm cassis, black raspberries, and juicy black plums, plus wafts of violets, licorice, and cumin seed with a hint of cedar chest. The medium-bodied palate expands as the nuanced mineral, black fruit, and earthy layers unfurl, beautifully framed by ever-so-plush tannins and amazing tension, finishing long and perfumed. This is such a gorgeous Latour!
Latour is an utterly fascinating wine to taste nowadays, as there is little doubt that it is undergoing a profound change - almost certainly due to biodynamics. The 2017 is less monumental and yet no less impactful than previous vintages, and is very much in the frame of recent Latours. They are bravely following where they believe it should be, rather than where the market expects it to be. It opens with hugely vibrant spice followed by powerful, richly concentrated cassis and autumnal fruits that steal up on you. This beautiful wine has great persistency and precision, with real bearing and good Pauillac structure. Those tannins come rushing in until, by the end, you feel their insisting power. The levels of precision are astonishing - the team blind-tasted the berries for three weeks before harvest to track maturity and decide picking dates. There are touches of 100-year-old Petit Verdot in here. 30.3% of the estate's production went into the grand vin. 6.4% press wine. 66 IPT. Drinking Window 2027 - 2042
Black core with purple rim. Subdued but inviting nose, with an attractive dustiness to the restrained, pure black fruit. Tannins are so dry but so not drying, paper-fine finesse. Great refinement and purity with no attempt to seduce at the moment. Coming back to this after the 2006, it seems so fruity. Dark-red fruit and even a touch of violets. Really opened up in the last 20 minutes. So fragrant now. Deep and long. Excellent balance and refinement. Freshness does not come from the acidity, suggests technical director Hélène Génin (pH is 3.75). Incredibly long. 13.3%. Drink 2030-2050
The latest vintage of Latour to be "released" is the 2006. The 2017 will be made from 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot. Picked from 11th September to 4th October it represents 30.3% of the Estate's total production. Frederic Engerer comments that it has the texture of 2012 with the backbone of 2014 and ultimately reminds him of the 2001. A deep, opaque purple in the glass, with dense, smoky fruits and black chocolate on the nose. The palate has great density and purity, with layers of black fruits, camphor, black pepper and nutmeg. The tannins are mouthcoating and rich, with a chewy density that will require longer cellaring than perhaps any other wine in 2017. Despite the structure, the powerful and expansive fruit core drives the palate forward and leaves a lingering, ripe and spicy finish. Extremely impressive.
The nose has a fragrant woodland violet charm the palate depth of fruit brooding mid richness black cherry backed by bitter chocolate and liquorice. There is balance better with powerful black cherry and lighter fresher bilberry the finish has depth concentrated richness. 2030-48
Tasted with Hélène Genin, technical director at Latour. This is a very focussed and intense wine without the power and muscle so often associated with this label, but with so much direction and concentration it makes up for it. It is not heavy at all, but it is very fresh and exciting. There are vines in here from between 1900 and 1930 and also newer plantings which grow slowly in competition with older plants surrounding them and this brings fabulous complexity to the finished wine. It is a Cabernet vintage and this is an extraordinary Cabernet-dominant wine.
The 2017 Latour has a backward bouquet compared to the Les Forts de Latour, very well defined but it needs coaxing from the glass. Eventually it clicks into fifth gear, offering subtle iris and wild hedgerow aromas, just a touch of mint developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with firm but fine tannin that provides this Grand Vin with real backbone, also a sense of symmetry. It might not possess the flair or quite the enthralling precision of the 2016, but it is a quintessential Latour in many ways with a very long persistence on the finish.
This is very dense and tight with a super center palate of dark fruit with blackberries and currants. Full-bodied, so precise and focused. Great length and depth. Superb. Classic great Bordeaux. Wow. Pure cabernet sauvignon.
The 2017 Latour is a blend of 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8% Merlot and 0.1% Petit Verdot with 13.3% alcohol and an IPT of 66. Deep garnet-purple in color, it starts off a little broody before exploding from the glass with powerful scents of ripe blackcurrants, blackberry pie and preserved black cherries plus touches of cedar chest, fenugreek, cumin seed and charcoal with emerging wafts of violets, dark chocolate, star anise and fertile loam. Medium-bodied, this may be one of the most elegant, great Latours ever, revealing layer upon layer of fresh, crunchy black fruits with a vast array of exotic spice and floral nuances, framed by super ripe, super fine-grained tannins, finishing very long with mineral sparks coming through. This is so nuanced and perfumed that I imagine, in 50 years, this wine could be mistaken for a great red Burgundy. Drink: 2026-2075
The 2017 Latour is very deep purple-black in color and sings of crème de cassis, warm plums, blackberry pie and cinnamon stick with hints of sandalwood, violets, star anise, baker’s chocolate and a touch of beef drippings. Medium-bodied, firm, grainy and very structured with taut, sustained mid-palate fruit, it gives loads of black fruit and spice layers and a very long, mineral-tinged finis
