Chateau Latour 2019

Classic Pauillac darker currants, smoky tobacco, spicy wood, damp earth, and graphite all define the 2019 Château Latour, a ripe and approachable Latour that has more accessibility than many vintages while still possessing quintessential Latour character and depth. Blended from 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot and aged 18 months in new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied with a round, layered mouthfeel, beautiful, almost velvety tannins, and a tremendous finish. I'd happily drink a bottle today (don't tell anyone), yet it's going to benefit from 5-7 years of bottle age and keep for 50 years or more in fine form. Drink 2031-2081.

• Drinkvenster: 2031 - 2081
• Naam recensent: Jeb Dunnuck

Dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, subtle brightening on the edge. Delicate floral nuances of candied violets, fresh blackberry confit, fine herbal savouriness, a hint of old wood, candied orange zest. Juicy, fruit texture, ripe cherries and plums, firm tannins, finely structured, pleasant nougat note in the finish. Mineral and fresh, salty finish, already shows great length, will only benefit from further bottle ageing; great future. (2030-2070).

• Drinkvenster: 2030 - 2070

Composed of 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.5% Merlot, the 2019 Latour is deep garnet-purple in color. It comes barreling out of the glass with powerful notes of blackcurrant jelly, blackberry pie, and plum preserves, followed by suggestions of pencil shavings, cast-iron pan, and charcoal. The medium to full-bodied palate is exquisitely constructed with a myriad of very fine layers, supported by ripe, grainy tannins and beautiful tension, finishing epically long and mineral-laced. It's still very tightly wound and will require at least 5 to 7 more years in cellar, then should age gracefully for a good 50-years+.

• Naam recensent: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Dark blackcurrants with smokey tobacco, liquorice and slate. Cool straight away, fresh but so perfectly mouthfilling, not sweet like 2020, this is more cooling and fresh, blue fruit, black cherry, fleshy like fruit skin texture. Dark, I love the 2019s because they're more controlled and serious but so nuanced. To me this is how a great Pauillac can taste, serious, deep, classic Cabernet markers, lots of minerality in the flint and stoney aspects, strong tannins and a powerful, muscular structure with minty sides. An amazing Pauillac, this is really my style. Still so full of concentration and life, this will last forever.

• Drinkvenster: 2030 - 2060
• Naam recensent: Georgina Hindle

The 2019 Latour is a profound wine in the making, and it will surely emerge as one of the most long-lived wines of the vintage, as well as one of the greatest. Unwinding in the glass with scents of rich cassis fruit, English walnuts, cigar wrapper, black truffle, loamy soil and violets, it’s full-bodied, layered and muscular, with huge depth at the core, ripe tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, seemingly interminable finish. Checking in at 14.1% alcohol, this prodigious Latour will require two decades to hit its stride, but it will be more than worth the wait.

• Drinkvenster: 2036 - 2070
• Naam recensent: William Kelley

y turns powerful and extremely subtle, the 2019 vintage at Latour highlights the resculpting and evolution of this 1st Growth over the past decade. Nuanced aromatics of peony, gunsmoke and campfire. Things take their time in the glass, with waves of charcoal, slate and black truffle weaving through supple blackcurrant, raspberry and mulberry fruits. Sappy acidities let light through to the muscular, take-no-prisoners, tannins. Clever winemaking, expansive yet concentrated, with hidden power and depths that will need a good decade before opening up and yet already seductive. Delivers on it En Primeur promise. 36% of overall production. 100% new oak. Overall yield of just under 45hl/h, unusual as the average yield at Latour is closer to 35hl/h, largely due to old vines and the powerful clay that sits under the gravel here.

• Naam recensent: Jane Anson

Deep, dark, garnet in color, the wine is equally dark in its fruit, cigar wrapper, smoke, espresso, leaf, cedar, and spice profile. With elegance, power, firmness, and silkiness, the wine on the palate immediately cuts a wide swatch across your palate. All that regal, ripe, sweet, fruit and crushed gravel stick with you almost seamlessly for more than 50 seconds until you reach the endnote with its salty, mineral-driven kick in the endnote. This is a fabulous Latour that will age for decades. The wine was made from a blend of 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.5% Merlot, 14.1% ABV. The Grand Vin was produced from only 36% of the harvest. Drink from 2030-2070.

• Drinkvenster: 2030 - 2070
• Naam recensent: Jeff Leve

The 2019 Latour is every bit as impressive as it has always been. Silky and caressing on the palate, with exceptional balance, the 2019 has so much going on. Dark red fruit, new leather, spice and a kick of blood orange are some of the notes that build in the glass, but ultimately the 2019 impresses most with its textural finesse. There was a bit of rain during harvest, but that does not appear to have been much of an issue. The 2019 is a quintessentially modern Latour, a wine that deftly marries power with elegance. Yields came in at 45 hectoliters per hectare, quite a bit higher than the long-term average of 34 hectoliters per hectare.

• Drinkvenster: 2029 - 2069
• Naam recensent: Antonio Galloni
• Datum recensie: februari 2022

The 2019 Latour has a discrete nose that unfurls gradually, taut and fresh, with touches of graphite and cedar. This just wants to underplay everything. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit framed by fine tannins. Very precise though it feels as if it is closing down on the finish. Yet there is clearly a very long aftertaste. A really cerebral Left Bank for long-term consideration. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

• Drinkvenster: 2027 - 2060
• Naam recensent: Neal Martin