France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Petit Verdot

Ch. Latour

Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour Pauillac

Bordeaux

Pauillac

Sappy and fresh, with a vivid and expressive quality to the blueberry fruit alongside savoury cassis bud. This has plenty of lift, good depth through the mid palate, and retains the graphite kiss and tightly muscular tannins that give appellation signature without needing to wait to being drinking. I would suggest another year in bottle, then a good long carafe. This is classic, concentrated, balanced, a buy. 32hl/h yield, 23.5% of Latour's overall production in the vintage. Hélène Genin technical director.

Inside Bordeaux

The 2020 Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour is a blend of 53% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it needs some coaxing to reveal delicate notes of redcurrants, wild blueberries, and crushed plums, plus hints of bay leaves, tree bark, and cracked black pepper. The medium-bodied palate is bright, lively, and energetic, with a grainy texture and minerally finish.

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Leafy but sculpted rose bud, raspberry, cherry bud, this has some pretty tight but well handled tannins that contribute to body ad a slow build through the palate, low yields, and one of the highest levels of Cabernet Sauvignon on record for this wine. 12% press wine. 40% new oak. 12% of the production, 11% press wine, Hélène Genin director. 

Love the inky plum and juicy slate character, with a powerful tannic frame and confident grip on the bright raspberry, redcurrant and blueberry fruits. Another sign of how well this appellation has performed in 2023, a very different character to the previous vintage, prettier, with more air and juice in the architecture, will be ready to drink earlier. Yields 40hl/h, harvest September 7 to October 2.

The 2022 Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour is a blend of 48.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46.2% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot.  Deep garnet-purple in color, it needs a swirl or two before it storms out with powerful blackcurrant, plum preserves, and redcurrant jelly scents, followed by wafts of clove oil, spearmint, and dusty soil. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock full of expressive black fruit with fine-grained tannins and impressive tension, finishing with a real skip in its step. This includes 5.5% press wine and represents 20.4% of the year's production. pH 3.7, TPI 74.

These are the kind of vintages when the skill found in winemaking teams at estates like Latour really pays off. This is lighter than most vintages of Pauillac de Latour, reflective of a vintage where the sugars stubbornly refused to rise, meaning the texture and weight of the palate is notably more sculpted, but this has pretty rosestem and raspberry puree notes, and gentle tannins that build through the palate. Some frost impast, with the sandier plots not making it into any of the wines in the range. No chaptilisation.

A blend of 55.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38.8% Merlot, and 5.4% Petit Verdot, Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour 2019 is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. It comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of black cherries, blackcurrant jelly, and menthol, plus suggestions of garrigue, candied violets, and dark chocolate. The full-bodied palate is plush and oh-so-juicy, with a lively line to balance, and a fantastically intense, yet well-poised, finish. Just starting to open-out and reveal its decadent core, this is the best Pauillac de Chateau Latour since the fabulous 2016, albeit even more concentrated and powerful—a fitting reflection of Latour, if you will.

This is a Pauillac de Latour with clear spice and kick, with an exuberant texture from alcohol that is higher than usual after the hottest summer since 2003, alongside abundant raspberry, blueberry and black cherry fruit, spiced sandalwood and concentrated mint. 24hl/ha yield after mildew, with 21% of production going into this wine, 5.7% press wine. First year of organic certification, with biodynamic farming fully practised. Hélène Genin technical director, harvest September 17 to October 11.

An extremely fragrant vintage of Pauillac de Latour, expressive, nuanced and supple. There are some earthy notes running through the fruits, with less clear density overall than in the vintages immediately before and after this one. The emphasis instead is on raspberry and brambled blackberry fruit with tobacco, grilled cedar, touches of roebud and sage. 20% new oak.

Mørke solbær, mørke skogsbær, mørke bjørnebær, sjokolade, og noe sedertre.

Smak av konsentrerte skogsbær og bjørnebær. Konsentrerte, brede, tette tanniner

Expert

Mørk rød farge. Dufter av mørke solbærbær, modne plommer, blyantkvess, nylakkert mahogny. Meget god konsentrasjon, syre som sitter. Meget lang finish. En meget god vin fra Pauillac. Egner seg godt til grillet cote de beauf.

Wow, og trippel wow. Nesten sort på farve. Umiddelbar solbærduft, men denne fortok seg. Dekantert og luftet på verandaen i halvannen time. Begynte så smått å hilse på. Etter tre timer kom den som en rakett opp av glasset. Ingen tegn på høy alder, perfekt balanse, lukter og smaker som en fullblods West-Bank. Evig ettersmak. Perfekt moden nå dersom man gir den tre timer i karaffel. Tenk at man kunne kjøpe slikt for under tusenlappen. Glad jeg har en flaske til…

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Ch. Latour
Vintages	2020
Country	France, Bordeaux, Pauillac
Bottle	75 cl

Alcohol	13.5 %
Acid	5,3 %
Sugar	< 3 g/l

Packaging	Glass
Cork type
Selection	Tilleggsutvalget
Wholesaler	Lars Søreide AS
Carrier	Lars Søreide AS