1995 Château Latour Grand Vin Pauillac Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note
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It has been close to a decade since I last this wine. The time in the cellar has added a lot here. Still youthful, some secondary characteristics have started appearing. Now you find cigar wrapper, creme de cassis, oyster shell, smoke, forest floor, cranberry, and red plums. Full-bodied, powerful, tannic, and with a gentle austerity, there is a firmness in the finish that works perfectly with all the layers of ripe, crisp, red berries. 2 hours in the decanter works well here. Drink from 2025-2065. 4,566 Views Tasted Jul 8, 2022The nose is developing nicely with its tobacco, smoke, cedar chest, earth, mint, blackberry and stone profile. The wine is powerful, fresh, long, structured to age and tannic, finishing with a powerful, clean, black cherry and cassis finish. In 2013, 1995 Latour was the first in a series of vintages to be re-released by the chateau after they announced the wines would no longer be sold as a future. The wines are differentiated by the anti counterfeiting measures on the label, bottle and capsule. 10,174 Views Tasted Mar 27, 2013A powerful nose filled with licorice, creme de cassis, truffle, forest floor, blackberry, cigar leaf, cedar wood and gravel greets you warmly. Full bodied, tannic, concentrated and rich, this intense Pauillac is still young and fresh. With round tannins and layers of ripe, black fruits with cassis, the wine remains on your palate for over 40 seconds. 1995 Chateau Latour is probably the wine of the vintage. While this is approachable today, it will drink much better starting in 2020. 14,713 Views Tasted Jan 7, 2011 |
When to Drink Chateau Latour, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time
Chateau Latour is not a wine to drink on the young side. The wine is usually far too tannic, powerful and reserved during its youth. Young vintages can be decanted for an average of 3-6 hours, give or take. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume. Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment.
Chateau Latour is usually better with at least 15 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage character. Chateau Latour offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 18 and 60 years of age after the vintage.
Serving Chateau Latour with Wine and Food Pairings
Chateau Latour is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.
Chateau Latour is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised and grilled dishes. Chateau Latour is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms and pasta.
In 2011, Chateau Latour added to their holdings in Pauillac when they purchased the 4-hectare vineyard of Chateau La Becasse from the Fonteneau family. The vines are used for the production of Forts de Latour.
Chateau Latour became one of the first major Bordeaux chateaus to embrace anti-counterfeiting measures with the use of the Prooftag system which is in place on the label, bottle and capsule of all future and current releases.
In 2015, Chateau Latour completed renovations which included new offices, tasting rooms and cellars. In fact, Chateau Latour became the first estate in the Medoc to maintain a cellar solely devoted to keeping magnums and other large-format bottling's dating back to 1900. The new cellars were a necessity as they allowed Latour to retain vast stocks of wines, for later releases.
The Pinault family also own other wineries through their holding company the Artemis Group. In Burgundy, they own Domaine d’Eugenie, previously known as Domaine Rene Engel. The vines are located in the Vosne Romanee appellation in the Cote de Nuits. Late 2017, marked another addition to their holdings in Burgundy when they purchased Clos de Tart for a record-setting price of more than 30 Million Euros per hectare!
In the Northern Rhone Valley, they own Chateau Grillet, which prior to their recent sale had been owned by the same family since 1830!
In July 2013, the family added to their list of vineyards with the purchase of Araujo Estate wines, in the Napa Valley. Araujo has since been renamed Eisele Vineyards. The following year, in 2014, The Artemis Group made their first purchase in the Right Bank, when they invested in Chateau Vray Croix de Gay, Pomerol, Chateau Siaurac, which is located in the Lalande de Pomerol appellation and Chateau Le Prieure in St. Emilion. They sold all their Right Bank vineyards, September 2020 to Suravenir Insurance, the owner of Chateau Calon Segur.