x
  • Country ranking ?

    461
  • Producer ranking ?

    24
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Mature cheddar cheese

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

The chateau makes three different wines. The so-called grand vin, that is Château Latour itself, a second wine called Les Forts de Latour and a third wine simply called Pauillac. The grand vin comes from the original part of the vineyards, called the Enclos. This is the most prestigious part of the vineyard where the vines have a fine view of the Gironde estuary. The tradition in Bordeaux says that vines that overlook the water make the best wine. The proximity to the estuary actually gives a slightly higher temperature, helping the grapes to good maturity. The Enclos is around 45 hectares out of a total of 88 for the whole estate.

The grape varieties are 75 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 23 % Merlot, 1 % Cabernet Franc and 1 % of Petit Verdot. The planting density is high, 10,000 vines per hectare. Every year the chateau’s viticulturist replaces a certain number of dead vines. These young vines are marked and treated separately. They are harvested separately and they are not used in the grand vin until they are at least 10 years old.

The Enclos is under conversion to organic farming since 2015. It takes three years to be certified so it means that we will see the first organic Château Latour in 2018. Only copper and sulfur, mixed with different plant infusions, are used to fight diseases in the vineyard. Instead of insecticides they use sexual confusion. Only organic fertilizers are used when needed and no herbicides.

The barrel aging starts in December. Château Latour is put in 100 % new oak from the Allier and Nièvre forest in the central part of France. The chateau works with 11 different coopers. This is important to the winemaker as the coopers all have different styles.

 

The wine spends six months in the first year cellar where it will also undergo the malolactic fermentation. The barrels are tasted regularly and the winemaker decides the blend for the grand vin, the second wine and the third wine. He decides if the press wine should be included or not. The wine is then moved to the huge and magnificent second-year cellar where it will spend 10-13 months, so in total around 22 months of aging before it is bottled. 2014 was bottled in June this year. During the barrel aging the wine is racked and topped up regularly, every 3 months. At the end, the wine is fined traditionally with egg whites, 5-6 whites per barrel.

Château Latour is often a textbook example of a Cabernet Sauvignon. No wonder, as often almost 90 % of the wine is made from this grape. It is a powerful wine in its youth, with aromas of cedar wood and black fruit, made even more powerful with the aging in 100 % new oak barrels. It is packed with fruit and tannins and it stays young for at least 10 years. This is a wine you really should wait for, say 10-15 year or longer. It needs time to show what it is capable of.

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Vintage 1929

The year 1929 was an extraordinary year in the vineyards of Bordeaux as well as on Wall Street. When the U.S. stock market crashed in 1929, it produced several unwanted effects abroad, especially in Europe, where many countries had not fully recovered from the aftermath of World War I. In Germany the economic disaster and the resulting social dislocation contributed to the rise of Adolf the United States there were 16 million unemployed – about a third of the available labour force.

In Bordeaux the 1929 is one of the “legendary” vintages of the century. Its reputation was made even greater as the 30s were really a catastrophic decade, and it was not until 1945 that anything of equivalent quality was made. In Bordeaux those sixteen years were one of the longest “dark periods” in the 20th century. The year of 1929 was extremely hot and dry, the driest since the beginning of the century. It only rained for a short period during the harvest, but then the fine and hot weather came back again. The grapes became very concentrated, high in tannins and produced wine to last.

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Average Bottle Price

2022 2020 2018 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000 1995
2 860€ -10.3% 3 190€ -2.7% 3 280€ -9.4% 3 622€ +43.0% 2 532€ -8.4% 2 765€ -4.3% 2 890€ -18.9% 3 565€ -50.1% 7 140€ +251.9% 2 029€ +79.2% 1 132€ +29.2% 876€ +79.1% 489€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

14 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Full

ending

Extensive

nose

Intense

recommend

Yes

taste

Well-structured and Vigor

Written Notes

The next Bordeaux was a 1929 Latour courtesy of Jeff. It had a wow nose and impressed the heck out of everyone. Hints of hinderbush, I wrote. Yeah, that’s a new one lol. There were also great aromas of tobasco, musk, cassis and toll house. The palate was full of cedar, cobwebs and sweet cherry fruit. Duke hailed it as ‘wine of the night’ so far, and the Inspector called it ‘the best bottle of this that I have ever had.’ Wait a second, was that a compliment for a Bordeaux wine from the Inspector??? Sacre bleu! Chalk outlined the palate gracefully in this regal and still ruling claret
  • 98p

Silky and pleasant with truffles and cherries, perfectly balanced, soft and long aftertaste. Great treat.

  • 93p
Med intense, ruby colour. Earthy, smoky, vegetal, mushroomy. Dry, lightbodied, medium acidity, low tannins, vegetal and short finish. Passée. Decant 20 minutes. Drink up!
  • 82p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Below Average

Fake factory

There is a possibility

Glass time

1h
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