Latour

1990 Les Forts de Latour. This wine is beautifully evolved, exuding powerful aromas of red plums, red fruits, dates and cinnamon, rounded and absolutely harmonious, velvety in layering with overtones of camphor in its hallowed glow. More feminine compared with the grand vin but all the better as it exudes a distinct identity in its own right. Superb. Tasted January 2016.

1995 Les Forts de Latour. Deep ruby. Lovely glow of the classic dryish Pauillac signature tone with some early complexity. Fleshy and rounded with excellent presence of tea leaves and tobacco snuff, finishing with a great flourish of nail varnish. Excellent. Tasted August 2018.

1995 Les Forts de Latour. Good colour. Lovely sense of velvety depth on the nose with amid deep rosy hues, dark plums and some pungent earthiness. Shows excellent depth and freshness with open svelte intensity, displaying understated secondary characters underscored with savoury swagger. Even better than a previous tasting in 2018. At its best. Tasted July 2022.

2000 Les Forts de Latour. Quite shut, but one can catch a whiff of intense, rich dark fruits lurking beneath. Full-bodied. Broader and more expansive after some time, taking on more weight as it sat in the glass, becoming huge, dense and intense. Tasted April 2009.

2003 Les Forts de Latour. Deep purple with a bare trace of crimson. Very lovely effusive nose of lifted red plums and perfumed fragrance, distinctly feminine. Fairly full with a delicious succulence, displaying excellent presence of dark fruit and currants that exude velvety warmth and fine intensity. Very well-balanced and seamlessly integrated with further notes of cedar amid sweet pliant tannins, thinning just a little towards its short finish. Probably at its best. Tasted November 2021.

2003 Les Forts de Latour. Delicious cherries, red fruits and currants on the nose leading to a fresh supple intensity on the medium-full palate, infused with earthy elements that impart a distinct austerity. Structured masculine presence, exuding a lovely effusive glow of cedar, capsicum and tobacco that eventually morphed into the classic Pauillac signature, finishing on a note of exotic spices. At peak maturity. Has class and pedigree. Tasted July 2023.

1966 Château Latour. Clearly well evolved in colour and tone, evoking aged dry mushrooms with a lifted earthy pungency, still displaying astonishing fullness and depth of ripe dark berries, utterly seamless with melted tannins. Amazing! Tasted December 2017.

1975 Château Latour. Poured from magnum. Still fairly deep purplish. This wine is singing beautifully, still amazingly fresh and vivacious on the supple medium-bodied palate. Totally integral with a balanced cool ripeness and understated intensity, exuding a delicious rosy glow with a deeper core of tangerines in soft focus. Almost opulent. At its ethereal best and seemingly immortal, stamped with real class and pedigree. Tasted February 2023.

1978 Château Latour. Still showing an opaque deep garnet core, exuding a distinctly mature nose of green capsicum with a gentle earthiness marked by forest characters and bramble. Open with great suppleness, revealing excellent concentration of delicious red fruits and currants within soft pliant melted tannins, still amazingly fresh with lively acidity. Absolutely harmonious, finishing very well. Tasted January 2020.

1982 Château Latour. Still impressively dark after thirty-eight years. Rather distant and aristocratic in demeanour, showing off its classic Pauillac signature of tobacco snuff and pencil shavings while the palate is wonderfully supple, still imbued with remarkably fresh acidity tinged with capsicum, new leather and cedar without being too involving, structured with understated masculinity. Still has decades ahead. Excellent. Tasted December 2020.

1985 Château Latour. This Latour at thirty-four years is still darkly coloured, full and masculine, opening with a great lift of dark currants, ripe black fruits and violets that leapt from the glass, very open and fleshy, still imbued with an abundance of cool ripe fruit with after notes of tobacco leaves, structured with detailed velvety tannins that deliver power and smooth elegance in equal measure. Caught truly at its absolute peak. Very lovely. Superb! Tasted March 2019.

1988 Château Latour. Poured from magnum. Deep garnet red, proffering an effortless bouquet of tobacco snuff with a fabulous earthy pungency that led to a generously layered palate of dark fruits imbued with very fine graphite minerals, rendered taut with superb tension by acidity that is still remarkably fresh. Superb. Tasted April 2019.

1990 Château Latour. This wine radiates absolute power and beauty from its glorious unfathomable depth of ripe rich tarry black fruit, beautifully integrated with the wood and velvety tannins amidst a sprinkling of red plums. Truly remarkable. Tasted July 2014.

1990 Château Latour. Still rather dark at its core, exuding the classic hallowed glow of a mature claret with sweet savoury undertones. Softly rounded and fleshy. Abundant in black fruits and dark currants tinged with capsicum, yielding excellent transparency, subtle definition and supple tannins, displaying rich complexity yet understated in manner through its superb control of power, structure and balance. Supremely proportioned. Caught at its peak and will hold for many more years. Outstanding. Tasted February 2021.

1993 Château Latour. This premier cru exudes an enticing earthy pungency amid dark fruits and blackcurrants, medium-bodied and supple with fine transparency on the palate though the spectrum of flavours is rather narrow, lacking in true opulence and layering. Tasted May 2019.

1993 Château Latour. Deep crimson. Hint of earth and capsicum amid rosy hues, displaying good concentration and definition with its lively acidity still intact, tinged with a trace of burly green. Harmonious though not really your usual structured and layered Latour, missing that extra dimension of greatness as it finished short with a bit of spice. Tasted September 2020.

1995 Château Latour. This wine is imbued with deep layers of supple black fruits and dark currants within its impenetrable darkness on a firm minerally bed, very finely detailed, highly poised and elegant with excellent linearity, almost aloof in its quiet demeanour as it developed further complexity with overtones of ash and incense. Excellent. Tasted April 2019.

1995 Château Latour. Still darkly coloured, exuding a deep mesmerising bouquet of ripe dark berries and currants along with a savoury note, displaying very fine presence and acidity as it caressed the palate with a luxurious velvety smoothness before settling down with great transparency and linearity. Characteristically aristocratic. Excellent. Tasted June 2020.

1995 Château Latour. Deep ruby. Open with a classic glow of mature claret that exudes quiet charm. The palate is highly supple and agile, layered with a gentle velvety depth of succulent red fruits that exert understated power with a relaxed feel. Not showy at all in spite of its obvious joie de vivre, impeccably proportioned and balanced albeit within a slightly narrower frame than usual for Latour, proffering a more subdued masculinity. Drinking superbly now, and will hold for many more years. Tasted March 2021.

1995 Château Latour. Deep garnet red. There is a hint of warm gravel that overlay the expanse of dark fruits and currants tinged with green capsicum, beautifully relaxed and supple, structured with sleek understated intensity that convey a certain seamless masculinity. At its best. Tasted April 2021.

1996 Château Latour. Layered with glorious black fruits, dark currants and complex minerality of unfathomable depth, yet poised and relaxed on the palate, utterly natural and effortless in establishing its identity whilst further nuances of cinnamon and cedar continued to unfold over time. The perfect study in understatement. Truly outstanding. Tasted November 2013.

1996 Château Latour. Displaying a deep garnet red with just a trace of evolution at the rim, this wine was soft, rounded and distinctly feminine, offering red fruits and red roses of excellent concentration on the nose and palate with a hint of gravel, very correct in its balance, somewhat nonchalant and aloof in its demeanour. Tasted January 2016.

1996 Château Latour. Deep ruby, generously endowed by a glorious inly expanse of black fruits and currants that exude that classic glow of mature claret, recalling capsicum, black truffles and wild berries. Superbly ripe and supple, having evolved into mellower proportions, subtly structured with impeccable balance. Like all great wines, this doesn’t call attention to itself. Quite the perfect aristocrat. Caught at its peak and will hold for many, many more years. Tasted December 2022.

2001 Château Latour. Deep garnet red, exuding a powerful warm hallowed glow of early tertiary characters. Firm but fleshy, displaying very fine depth of black fruits and dark currants imbued with highly subtle ferrous and minerally elements, finishing with traces of soy, again just a little short. Excellent. Tasted April 2019.

2003 Château Latour. Deep purple, dominated by dark and red fruits in equal measure with plummy overtones, still tight. Medium-bodied, soft and rounded with good concentration of raspberries and blueberries, subtle in acidity but seriously missing in depth and length. The latter appears to be a recurring feature of the clarets of this heat-stressed vintage though, perhaps, it may be best to reserve judgement in this instance as the wine had not received adequate aeration. Tasted March 2017.

2004 Château Latour. Impenetrable dark purple with an arresting fragrance of ripe dark fruits, currants and blueberries along with early secondary nuances of cedar and graphite. Softly rounded, possessing richness, balance, sophistication, grandeur and structure with an elegance that may be misconstrued as aloofness. Tasted December 2015.

2004 Château Latour. Good colour, stuffed with a generous expanse of mulberries, dark fruits, raspberries and early cedar with a mahogany glow. Warm, rounded and seamless, showing great integration and subtlety in its structure and acidity although there seemed to be a lingering  trace of woodiness. A classic claret though without that extra dimension that comes with the best vintages. Tasted June 2019.

2004 Château Latour. Deep garnet red, exerting a warm ripeness and supple fullness. Quite richly layered with sweet undertones, open with lovely balance and seamless integration. Not the most profound Latour nor the best structured but it is drinking beautifully. Tasted March 2021.

2004 Château Latour. Deep ruby. Smooth expanse of delicious dark fruits and ripe berries. Medium weight. Open with surprising feminine supple intensity within a rather condensed narrow body though what comes through is absolutely classical Left Bank, seamlessly layered with understated acidity and structure, displaying early secondary characteristics. Excellent. Tasted December 2021.

2004 Château Latour. Deep garnet. Classic Pauillac nose of soy and tobacco amid a deep dark rosy fragrance. Medium-full, displaying some early complexity within its layers of ripe fruit and subdued minerality that lent a trace of austerity. Very well proportioned, exerting controlled power and sweet subtle intensity through its structured tannins and slick acidity that culminate in a long glowing finish. Tasted April 2023.