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  • Country ranking ?

    824
  • Producer ranking ?

    36
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables

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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Wine Information

1955
The weather conditions

June was wet and warm with fairly frequent heavy showers. The first few days were fine, which allowed the most precocious flowers to complete their cycle without incident. Average temperatures remained high and flowering proceeded normally in spite of the showers. September was fine, heavy and warm ; stormy until the 12th with welcome local showers almost every day. The temperature dropped after the 13th until the16th. Harvest from 25th September. Very active fermentation. Very rich musts, and from then on compared favorably with the wines of 1949 and 1952. By the running-off stage, the wines appeared as rich, generous with nice bouquet and color, well-structured.



Vintage quality and tasting comments

This vintage has more than fulfilled its promise when bottled. It develops concentrated aromas of leather, liquorice, tobacco and coffee, and in the mouth, it is a very structured, still robust concentrated wine with totally smoothed-up tannins and a long finish (last tasted : April 2000)

Quality: Great year



The moment for optimal drinking and best way of serving

The wine has been at its optimum for a few years now, but will certainly remain at this level for at least another 5 years.
Keep the bottle vertical at least half a day to settle the sediments at the bottom of the bottle. Then slowly pour the wine into a decanter in order to get rid of these sediments, keep in the decanter for at least 1/2 hour for aeration and serve.

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Vintage 1955

In Bordeaux, 1955 began with unstable weather conditions just before summer, but turned into an extremely favorable season by the end of the year. A glorious, sunny and warm, if not hot, period prevailed throughout August and September, until the right amount of much-needed rain arrived. The harvest turned out to be of the highest quality. However, because the vintage was overshadowed by the 1953, it offers value-for-money wines that can still be enjoyed today. Ripe grapes and autumn rains guaranteed an excellent year for Sauternes wines. Wines from this vintage vary greatly in quality, and many are dominated by tannins. Only the best wines, such as Lafleur, Cheval Blanc and Mouton-Rothschild, offer balance and richness.

 

 

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Tasting note

color

Mature, Cherry Red and Cloudy

ending

Long, Lingering and Spicy

flavors

Spice

nose

Intense, Complex, Round and Rich

recommend

Yes

taste

Warming, Low tannin, Complex, Mature, Full, Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

Outstanding and Fine

Written Notes

The 1955 Latour was like band-aid meets marijuana, with deep fruit supporting the whole operation. Its palate was long and full with sparkling black fruit. Sparkling as in shining, not that this was some sort of Latour Perignon lol. It kept getting better and stronger in the glass (95).
  • 95p

Latour 1955 was so fine, so complex and so refined. It had immensely much to offer with its power, vibrancy, fatness, exceptional depth and length. Everything was perfect here. Third time for me and this bottle was undoubtedly the best I ever had. 15 years more life at least. 99p.

  • 99p

From the moment it is opened and served, the 1955 Latour is simply regal. Floral and remarkably bright for a wine of its age, the 1955 offers a level of pure seduction that is hard to capture with words. I am not sure where to start. The bouquet alone is incredibly alluring. On the palate, though, the wine is even better. Silky tannins enrobe a core of soft red-toned fruit. Sure, the 1955 doesn’t have the power of the 1961 nor the radiance of the 1959, but it is nevertheless exceptional. These days, bottles like this are usually served in big tastings with many other wines and large groups of people. Of course, those are often amazing tastings. But on this night, there was just the 1955 Latour and a small group of six friends. The 1955 won’t be the longest-lived Latour, but readers lucky enough to own it can look forward to another two decades of sublime drinking. Special thanks to a dear friend for sharing this bottle, purchased directly from the Taillevent cellar many moons ago. 95/Drink 2018-2038.

  • 95p

At its peak for several years, this wine has more than kept its promises since bottling. It has developed concentrated aromas of leather, liquorice, tobacco and coffee. In the mouth it is very structured, still robust and concentrated, with well-integrated tannins and a long finish.

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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Satisfactory

Investment potential

No Potential

Fake factory

None
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