Les Forts de Latour - Pauillac red 2016

Wine Region: Bordeaux - France

Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (Blend)

Tasting notes:

Complex aromas of ripe black fruits with undertones of straw, pencil lead. Velvet touch to this smooth, rounded wine. Elegant tannins with balanced structure and a really fruity finish. 

Expert Ratings:

96 points James Suckling

 The fresh currant and violet aromas are so complex and beautiful on the nose. Full body, ultra-refined tannins and lovely tannin tension. Shows focus and such finesse. Beautiful finish.  (1/2019)

96 points Vinous

 The 2016 Les Forts de Latour is the clear highlight among these new releases from Latour. The first thing that is evident about the 2016 is the pedigree of the vintage. Undisputedly great. Readers will find a potent, dark Forts de Latour endowed with massive concentration and tons of depth. The 2016 won't be ready to drink anytime soon, but it holds tons of promise. Hints of gravel, sage, licorice and pencil shavings linger. The 2016 was impressive a few years ago. It is even better today. (AG)  (1/2022)

95 points Decanter

 Violet scented dark black cherries and figs on the nose, quite powerful. Tannins are generous but they're juicy and plump, soft almost chalky, they have a really great impact, filling the mouth together with the fruit. Everything has melded together, super balanced and all very harmonious - still clearly powerful with precision and sculpting of the fruit and a long finish with the flavours going on and on. Good acidity gives freshness and a real rush of strawberry and cherry juice on the first sip lifts and sustains the palate the whole way. Such a charming wine with great impact and presence. (GH)  (11/2021)

95 points Jeb Dunnuck

 The winner of the best second wine in the vintage goes to Château Latour. Their 2016 Les Forts de Latour is a match for just about anything out there. It shares its bigger siblings stature and class, with a sensational perfume of cedarwood, black currants, graphite, and lead pencil. Seamless, ultra-pure, and medium to full-bodied, it too needs a good 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for 2-3 decades.  (2/2019)

95 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 The 2016 Les Forts de Latour is superb, unwinding in the glass with notions of blackcurrants, wild berries, sweet loamy soil, cigar wrapper and English walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it’s concentrated and tightly wound, with superb depth at the core, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins. This is an impeccably balanced, utterly classical Forts de Latour worth a special effort to seek out. (WK)  (3/2022)

94 points Wine Spectator

 A bit fleshier and more caressing than a typical Pauillac, this has flavors of warm fig, currant and blackberry preserves inlaid with charcoal and smoldering tobacco notes. There's grip for sure and a twinge of warm cast iron on the finish, but the fruit detail keeps the upper hand throughout, showcasing the purity on the finish. Very, very solid. (JM)  

About the Winery:

The history of Chateau Latour dates back at least to the 14th century, even though the vineyards for which it is now world-renowned were not fully established until the 17th century.  

The estate is located at the southern edge of Pauillac, bordering the St. Julien vineyards of Ch. Léoville Las Cases, and covers 78 hectares. After a period when it was under English ownership, in the form of the Pearson Group, owners of the Financial Times, and Harvey’s of Bristol, the property passed to Allied Lyons in 1989 and was then bought in 1993 by the French billionaire industrialist François Pinault, whose empire was to grow to include Yves St. Laurent, Gucci and Christie’s Auction House.

Pinault has delegated day-to-day control of the estate and its wines to his dynamic Président, Frédéric Engerer, under whose stewardship a major programme of investment has taken place which has seen Latour rise to an undisputed pre-eminent position in the Bordeaux wine hierarchy.

Vinification is rigorously controlled, with severe selection of only the healthiest fruit, total de-stemming, and separate tanks for each parcel of vines. A three-week long maceration is followed by malolactic fermentation in vats before the wine chosen to become Ch. Latour is run off into barrels, 100% new, for ageing. The wine destined to become Les Forts de Latour is aged in 50% new oak and 50% one-year-old barrels.

Their wine style is powerful, structured and compelling, and has been for many the most consistent performer amongst the First Growth Wines over the past century, acquiring an enviable reputation for producing very good wine in the more challenging vintages. It has great potential to age, with the best vintages lasting a century or more.