Château Latour, Pauillac, een Premier Cru sinds de classificatie van 1855, en vrijwel volledig samengesteld uit Cabernet Sauvignon: 92,5% in 2019, met 7,5% Merlot.
Château Latour heeft de Merlot tussen 13 en 23 september geoogst en de Cabernet van 21 september tot 5 oktober, wat plaatsvond onder regenachtige omstandigheden vlak voor en tijdens de oogst, te midden van koele temperaturen in september. De oogst stond onder leiding van technisch directeur Hélène Génin.
Een groot deel van deze structuur is afkomstig van de Enclos, waar het centrum bestaat uit klei-grind en de randen uit zand vermengd met grind; de gemiddelde opbrengst op lange termijn bedraagt 34 hl/ha. Een wijngaardeneiland van 7 hectare in Artigues, aangekocht in 2005, ligt daarbuiten.
Het wordt aanbevolen deze jonge wijn te decanteren. Hij komt het best tot zijn recht tussen 2025 en 2050.
Robert Parker (99)
The 2019 Latour is a profound wine in the making, and it will surely emerge as one of the most long-lived wines of the vintage, as well as one of the greatest. Unwinding in the glass with scents of rich cassis fruit, English walnuts, cigar wrapper, black truffle, loamy soil and violets, it’s full-bodied, layered and muscular, with huge depth at the core, ripe tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, seemingly interminable finish. Checking in at 14.1% alcohol, this prodigious Latour will require two decades to hit its stride, but it will be more than worth the wait.
James Suckling (99)
This Latour reminds me of the famous 1990 vintage that had refinement but strength. You need to spend time with this, and the nose evolves from black currants, violets, red licorice, mint and cassis. It slowly opens. Medium- to full-bodied with fine, velvety tannins that are textural and enticing. Extremely structured but seductive and graceful.
Jancis Robinson (18)
Tasted blind. Some evolution at the rim. Meaty and treacly on the nose. Fresh, but not that concentrated. And the tannin is not too heavy. Long, sweet and impressive. Just a little unmarried and jagged for now. A little inky.
Vinous (98)
The 2019 Latour is every bit as impressive as it has always been. Silky and caressing on the palate, with exceptional balance, the 2019 has so much going on. Dark red fruit, new leather, spice and a kick of blood orange are some of the notes that build in the glass, but ultimately the 2019 impresses most with its textural finesse. There was a bit of rain during harvest, but that does not appear to have been much of an issue. The 2019 is a quintessentially modern Latour, a wine that deftly marries power with elegance. Yields came in at 45 hectoliters per hectare, quite a bit higher than the long-term average of 34 hectoliters per hectare.
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
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.
Decanter (100)
Dark blackcurrants with smokey tobacco, liquorice and slate. Cool straight away, fresh but so perfectly mouthfilling, not sweet like 2020, this is more cooling and fresh, blue fruit, black cherry, fleshy like fruit skin texture. Dark, I love the 2019s because they're more controlled and serious but so nuanced. To me this is how a great Pauillac can taste, serious, deep, classic Cabernet markers, lots of minerality in the flint and stoney aspects, strong tannins and a powerful, muscular structure with minty sides. An amazing Pauillac, this is really my style. Still so full of concentration and life, this will last forever.
BOW (9.5)
Chateau Latour cellar release 2026.
Falstaff (100)
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.
The Wine Independent (100)
