1999 Château Latour Grand Vin Pauillac Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note
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Medium-bodied, crisp, bright red fruits with a leafy, spearmint and olive edge form the core of this wine. Fully-developed, the bright currant and green leafy character continues through to the finish. Drink from 2023-2035. 3,047 Views Tasted Sep 12, 2023Close to full maturity, this medium-bodied, forward, early-drinking Latour starts off just fine. But it leaves you wanting more as the finish is too short with a touch of green leaf and cedar to accompany the bright, piquant red fruits you find on the nose and palate. This is not a Latour for the long haul. 6,594 Views Tasted Aug 4, 2021Clearly, this is ready prime-time drinking, as it has hit maturity. Elegant, refined, soft, graceful and focused on its sweet, ripe, fresh, red berries, most of the tannin has resolved. The nose is as charming as the palate. This medium-bodied silky expression of Latour will be at its best over the next 12-15 years. If you have a bottle, and you are in the mood for a Latour, now is a good moment to pop a cork. 6,745 Views Tasted Mar 19, 2019This medium bodied wine from the legendary First Growth is a good wine, but it's not going to be confused with a great vintage of Latour. Medium bodied, polished, pure, clean and forward, the wine is displaying some secondary characteristics at this point. While there is no hurry to drink it, I doubt that holding it is going to create a miracle in the bottle. 7,211 Views Tasted May 24, 2013From a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, this wine was a nice surprise. Previous tasting's showed a wine that was charming, but light. The past few years have been good to this wine. Ruby in color with definite lightening at the edges, scents of tobacco, stone, earth, black cherry, kirsch, cedar wood and cassis lead to a medium/full bodied wine that for Chateau Latour is remarkably forward. Soft, refined and elegant in nature, this delicious wine ends with a supple, spicy, black and red fruit filled finish. This could improve a bit, but this is not a wine to age for decades. 11,453 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.