Les Forts de Latour 2018

The 2018 Les Forts de Latour has an almost penetrating bouquet of precocious black cherries, orange peel and violet aromas that could almost be a cool-climate Napa (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way). The palate is powerful and multidimensional, almost bowling over the senses like skittles, so your appreciation depends on whether that is something you desire. Either way, it’s a Les Forts de Latour you won’t forget. Drink 2023-2050.

A solid and steely red with lots of blackcurrant and blueberry character. Medium-to full-bodied and polished, fine tannins. Flavorful finish.

Tasted blind at Southwold 2018. Very deep purple colour. Cassis, dark cherries and cedar to the nose here, with a hint of charred wood. The palate is deep and full of spice, though the cassis at the core remains prominent. Chewy, muscular tannins bring a broad-shouldered frame. The fruit sits with intensity and focus in the middle. This is an outstanding Pauillac with a real sense of place, both moreish and profound. More like a second growth than a second wine!

A blend of 65.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and 0.4% Petit Verdot, Les Forts de Latour 2018 has a deep garnet-purple color. It storms out of the glass with powerful scents of blackberry pie, boysenberry preserves, and crème de cassis, melding into a background of sandalwood, Indian spices, dusty soil, and licorice, with a hint of dried flowers. The medium to full-bodied palate is powerful and seductive, delivering firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness to frame the generous flavors of black fruit preserves, finishing long and opulent.

Tasted blind. Scented, neat and confident on the nose. Neat and focused. Not dramatic but everything is in balance. Long and classic. Just right!
Drink 2027 – 2050

65.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 0.4% Petit Verdot. 2.4% press wine. 42% of production. Barrel sample.
Black core, purple rim. Intense pure blackcurrant. Dark and scented. Lively, juicy and fresh. More supple than the Pauillac with greater tannic finesse. Lightly charry, savoury and refined and the texture is really elegant even though there's a big tannic charge. Dark, savoury harmony. Direct and long and more aromatic and floral with air. (JH)
Drink 2025-2035

Very deep purple in the glass, with a concentrated, focused nose of cassis and toasted spices. The palate is dense and brooding, with rich black fruits paired to the equally full tannic structure that is mouthcoating but ripe. This bold and expansive wine will need a decade in bottle before reaching maturity, but the power of fruit and spice is extremely impressive. The spicy, toasted flavours that linger on the long finish support rather than dominate the powerful fruit at th core. Once again, Forts de Latour is taut, rich and hugely impressive, and very unlike a second wine.

Stepping up on the serious scale, the 2018 Les Forts De Latour checks in as a mix of 65.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and just a splash of Petit Verdot. It boasts a deeper purple color as well as powerful notes of high-class smoke tobacco, graphite, crushed rocks, and ample black and blue fruits. Rich, full-bodied, concentrated, and yet still perfectly balanced, it's another brilliant second wine from Latour that competes with most estates’ top wines.

(65.6 Cabernet Sauvignon, 34 Merlot, 0.4 Petit Verdot) | 14.2% alc | IPT 77 | 42% of production went into this wine With a very noble perfume and a strict, firm finish which shows proud, dry tannins, this is a Forts which harks back to a bygone era while packing in massive fruit and also modern gloss. The Cabernet holds this wine together and it seems to shrug off Merlot’s attempts at being noticed, but I imagine that the Merlot will add stability to the Cabernet in the future allowing it to soften a touch in time.