2008 Château Latour Grand Vin Pauillac Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note

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2008
97
There is a lightening in the color, giving a slight bricking effect. The wine is as concentrated as it is tannic. This is still youthful, fresh and holding on to most of what it has to offer. There is definite power here, and layers of ripe, juicy, dark, red berries. Clearly this wine has improved over the decade, as you would have expected. But it is still on the young/semi-strict side, so you should wait another 10 years or more. Utilizing only 40% of the harvest for the Grand Vin, the wine was made by blending 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 1% Cabernet Franc.

There is a lightening in the color, giving a slight bricking effect. The wine is as concentrated as it is tannic. This is still youthful, fresh and holding on to most of what it has to offer. There is definite power here, and layers of ripe, juicy, dark, red berries. Clearly this wine has improved over the decade, as you would have expected. But it is still on the young/semi-strict side, so you should wait another 10 years or more. Utilizing only 40% of the harvest for the Grand Vin, the wine was made by blending 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 1% Cabernet Franc.

5,681 Views   Tasted
2008 Latour is powerful, full bodied and concentrated with ripe cassis, tobacco, truffle, slate, and black plum aromatics. The wine covers your palate with waves of dark berries and ripe, round, polished tannins. The long, pure, fresh finish remains in your mouth for over forty five seconds! 97 Pts

2008 Latour is powerful, full bodied and concentrated with ripe cassis, tobacco, truffle, slate, and black plum aromatics. The wine covers your palate with waves of dark berries and ripe, round, polished tannins. The long, pure, fresh finish remains in your mouth for over forty five seconds! 97 Pts

13,711 Views   Tasted
2008 Château Latour features a dark, ruby color with purple tints. Cedar, spice, cassis, and earthy scents were easy to find. Plush and elegant on the palate, with stunning levels of concentrated, ripe fruit, coupled with a brilliant, long finish and structure make this a wine that will reward cellaring. The round tannins give the wine a seductive feel in the mouth. Only 40% of the harvest will be placed in the Grand Vin. This is a suave style of Latour. 94-97 Pts

2008 Château Latour features a dark, ruby color with purple tints. Cedar, spice, cassis, and earthy scents were easy to find. Plush and elegant on the palate, with stunning levels of concentrated, ripe fruit, coupled with a brilliant, long finish and structure make this a wine that will reward cellaring. The round tannins give the wine a seductive feel in the mouth. Only 40% of the harvest will be placed in the Grand Vin. This is a suave style of Latour. 94-97 Pts

13,989 Views   Tasted

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.

www.chateau-latour.com