Chateau Latour: A Legacy of Timeless Excellence

 

Wine bottles on display in front of wooden cases

 

When discussing the timeless wines of Château Latour, it is challenging to select favorite vintages as so many of them are great. In our estimation Latour has not made a bad wine in decades; the wines just range between great and life altering.  Even in less successful vintages, Château Latour wines can age beautifully and maintain their freshness for decades (in some cases centuries) after bottling. In great vintages like the ones we are offering you today – 1982, 2000, 2003, and 2005 – with proper storage, these wines can continue to show beautifully for over one hundred years (not kidding)!

 

Today, we have on offer multiple cases of perfectly rated vintages from Latour in OWC, large format, and even some pristine, loose bottles. This includes a prisitne and untouched case of the legendary 1982 Latour that is still in the Original Tissue!

 

Some of the best bottles from Bordeaux make you question everything you thought you knew about wine and remind you that for some inexplicable reason fermented grape juice is not just a beverage, but an experience.

 

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

 

Château Latour 1982

“looks like a clone of the magnificently opulent, powerful 1961” - 100, RP
 
“Actually, it can’t improve. This is as good as wine gets” - 100, AG

 

 

Château Latour 2000
 
“Stunning. Best Latour since 1990.” 100, WS
 
“Latour has made truly great wines in the past two decades—and this is one of the best.” 100, JS
 
 
Château Latour 2003
 
“A very flamboyant and exciting Latour…This leans more towards sexy than intellectual.” 100, JS
 
“This reminds me of the fabulous 1996. But even better.” 98, WS
 
“What makes a great Latour is a sense of completeness, of restrained power and of levels of complexity which the other first growths rarely achieve. That's why Latour 2003 is a great wine.” 97, WE
 
 
Château Latour 2005
 
“The best reds I tasted today had some of the exuberance of the 2003 vintage, yet maintained the serious and powerful structure of the wines from 2000. They are classy, sexy reds. My favorite wines were the Latour and Las Cases, as well as L’Evangile…. “(Suckling, March 20, 2006)
 
“… the wine is stronger than I am and will outlast me by decades. This is the most provocative and most brilliant Latour I have tasted on release.” 100, Wine & Spirits
 
“One of the greatest young Bordeaux I've tasted in recent years, and more complete and classic than the outrageously lush 2003. For his part, Engerer feels that this wine combines the best traits of the 2003 and 2000 Latours.” 98, Stephen Tanzer

 

SHOP LATOUR

 

 

1982 Latour  

"Always somewhat atypical (which I suspect will be the case with the more modern day 2003), the 1982 Latour has been the most opulent, flamboyant, and precocious of the northern Medocs, especially the St.-Juliens, Pauillacs, and St.-Estephes. It hasn’t changed much over the last 10-15 years, revealing sweet tannins as well as extraordinarily decadent, even extravagant levels of fruit, glycerin, and body. It is an amazing wine, and on several occasions, I have actually picked it as a right bank Pomerol because of the lushness and succulence of the cedary, blackberry, black currant fruit. This vintage has always tasted great, even in its youth, and revealed a precociousness that one does not associate with this Chateau. However, the 1982 is still evolving at a glacial pace. The concentration remains remarkable, and the wine is a full-bodied, exuberant, rich, classic Pauillac in its aromatic and flavor profiles. It’s just juiced up (similar to an athlete on steroids) and is all the better for it. This remarkable effort will last as long as the 1982 Mouton, but it has always been more approachable and decadently fruity. Drink it now, in 20 years, and in 50 years! Don’t miss it if you are a wine lover.”

100, Robert Parker

 

2000 Latour  

"Latour has made truly great wines in the past two decades—and this is one of the best. It has fabulous aromas of black truffles, currants, raspberry and dried flowers. Mind-blowing on the palate, it’s an emotional and soulful red."

100, James Suckling

 

2003 Latour  

"2003 was one of the hottest, earliest Bordeaux vintages ever. Some vines suffered from lack of moisture, but old vines and clay subsoil at Enclos saw this vineyard through. The Merlot harvest occurred between September 8 and 13, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked between September 22 and 30. The 2003 Latour is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Six percent of the press wine was added to the final blend. It has a medium to deep garnet-purple color, then wow—it explodes from the glass with bombastic black and blue fruits, followed up by meat, wood smoke, sandalwood and Indian spice accents with underlying floral wafts. The palate is full, rich, velvety, seductive and very long on the finish. There were only 10,800 cases made"

100, Robert Parker

 

2005 Latour 

" A great wine, the summation of a great vintage in Bordeaux. The core of richness, the dense, bone-dry tannins, the black currants, red berries and black plum skins are the elements, but it’s the way they have been integrated that makes this such an impressive wine. There is great elegance as well, a fabulous counterpoint to such power. Cellar for at least 15 years, but this will keep forever."

100, Wine Enthusiast
SHOP LATOUR
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