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Les Forts de Latour

Pauillac

Bordeaux

France

0,75l - 229,00 Euro   -   1,0l - 305,33 Euro

der Zweitwein von Chateaux Latour

the winecellar insider schreibt über Chateau Latour:

Chateau Latour History, Overview

Chateau Latour is like no other Bordeaux wine. It is in a unique class of its own. Chateau Latour has been the most consistent of the First Growth chateaux from the Medoc for over 100 years! Since 1996, Chateau Latour has been producing some of the best wines in their history! Perhaps the best wine produced in modern times is the spell binding 2009 Chateau Latour. The wine is regal. It’s full bodied, powerful, tannic, pure, and sophisticated in its style. Filled with cassis, earth, truffle, spice and tobacco flavors, Latour in the top vintages require decades to fully develop. Once you taste a mature bottle of Latour, you’ll understand why it was worth the wait!

Chateau Latour is one of the oldest Bordeaux wine producing properties in the Pauillac appellation with a history dating all the way back to 14th century! It is thought the original Saint-Lambert tower, giving birth to the name Latour was created in the second half of the 14th century. Documents show, on October 18, 1331, Pons, the Seigneur of Castillon, allowed one of the most prosperous families in the Medoc to create a fortress in area of Saint-Lambert. That design included the original landmark tower that Chateau Latour is famous for today. In 1378, Chateau Latour Latour “en Saint-Maubert,” which was later known as Chateau La Tour and then Chateau Latour, came into being.

Because the original Saint-Maubert Tower does not exist today, it remains a mystery. In fact, nowhere on the 1759 cadastre in Chateau Latour, is there any building that looks like a tower.

Scholars believe the tower resided on the south-east side of the Bordeaux wine vineyard, near the Juillac river. The old tower was probably square and not round. The existing tower at Chateau Latour, which has nothing to do with the original one, did not give its name to the vineyard. In fact, the tower was a pigeon house, probably built with the stones from the old chateau between 1620 and 1630.

At the end of the 17th century, after a succession of sales, inheritances and marriages, the Latour estate became the property of the Segur family. It is in 1718 with the Marquis Nicolas-Alexandre de Segur, that modern history of Chateau Latour starts taking place. de Segur was the son of Alexandre de Segur de Francs and Marie-Therese de Clausel.

Thanks to the marriage of Alexandre de Segur with Marie-Therese de Clausel, “the Tower of Saint-Maubert” entered the Segur family and remained in their hands for almost 300 years. Just before his death in 1716, Alexandre de Ségur bought Lafite. Two years later, his son, Nicolas-Alexandre, (called “the Prince of Vines”) increased the family holdings when he purchased what would later become Mouton Rothschild and Calon Segur. In fact, for a 2 year period, (1718-1720) the de Segur family owned 3 of the 5 First Growth chateaux, Latour, Lafite Rothschild and what we know of today as Mouton Rothschild!

Like most great estates in Bordeaux, the owners did not live at the property, so the management of Chateau Latour fell to a director who produced detailed reports on the estate activity. This organization involved complete administration maintenance, culture expenses and correspondence between the several managers and the owner. This information allows us to understand what really took place at Latour during the last 300 years.

By the start of the 18th century, the wine of Chateau Latour was recognized around the world, thanks to the reconquest of the British market and the development of the Bordeaux wine business in northern Europe. The aristocracy and other wealthy groups of consumers loved the Bordeaux wine from the top chateaux, of which Chateau Latour was considered one of the best in the Medoc! That is how Thomas Jefferson, Ambassador of the United States to France and future President of the United States discovered this wine in 1787. To give you an idea of the price of Latour in its day, Chateau Latour was selling more for more than twenty times as much as one of ordinary Bordeaux wines.

Classified as First Growth, existing Chateau was built between 1862 and 1864. Skipping ahead, in 1963, the heirs of the Marquis de Segur sold 7% of their shares in Chateau Latour. The new shareholders became “Harveys of Bristol” and “Hallminster Limited”, both British Limited Companies. “Hallminster Limited” belonged to the Pearson Group, and held more than 50% of the shares of Chateau Latour. However the new owners kept the 120 year-old name of “Societe Civile du Vignoble de Chateau Latour”. At the time of the purchase, it was clear to everyone that the Left Bank property needed major renovations in the cellars an the vineyard required serious replanting.

In 1963 Chateau Latour expanded their vineyards by 12.5 hectares. They planted two additional plots just outside the “Enclos,” vineyard, which were owned by the property since 1850. This is the source of Les Forts de Latour. In 1968 improvements were made to the vineyard’s drainage system. The wine making facilities were also renovated.

Chateau Latour The Modern Age

Extensive restoration and an extension of the winery at Chateau Latour started taking place in 1964. At the time, a decision was made to replace the old wooden vats with new stainless steel ones. Stainless steel was perfect as it allows temperatures to be automatically controlled by chilled water flowing down along the vat. At that time, it was a revolutionary change in Bordeaux. This was the start of the modern age for Chateau Latour.

In 1989, Allied Lyons, already owner of 25% of the shares of Chateau Latour, bought Pearson’s as well as those remaining in the hands of some individual owners to become the majority shareholder. In July 1993 they sold their shares of Chateau Latour to François Pinault for 131 Million dollars. The price turned out to be one of the great deals for a chateau in the history of Bordeaux as the stock in the cellars alone was rumored to be worth close to 60 Million dollars at the time! The next important decision made by Francois Pinault turned out to be equally savvy when he decided to hire Frederic Engerer.

Frederic Engerer was already familiar with the Pinault family, as both Engerer and the son of Francois Pinault, François-Henri Pinault attended the same university. Since Frederic Engerer took over management of the property in 1995, things have never been better. In fact some of the finest wines, if not the best wines produced in the history of Chateau Latour continue to be produced during his tenure. In 1998, the chateau renovated their cellars and vat rooms, adding several new, smaller sized, stainless steel tanks to give the estate the ability to vinify on a parcel by parcel basis.

It’s possible that stunning 2009 Chateau Latour is at this point, the pinnacle of his success. In 2012, Chateau Latour announced they would no longer be selling Chateau Latour as a future. 2011 was the final vintage they sold En Primeur. Their plans are to cellar the wine until they felt the wines were more enjoyable for consumers to drink. As a guess, it looks like the first releases of the wines not sold as futures will begin with the 2012 vintage in 2022.

Chateau Latour Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The 90 hectare Latour vineyard has 78 hectares cultivated with vines. The vineyard of Chateau Latour is planted to 74.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23.8 Merlot, 1.8% Cabernet Franc and .02% Petit Verdot. This is a slight change in the vineyard makeup as the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon has been decreased, Petit Verdot is almost invisible and more Merlot has been planted in the vineyards. The Cabernet Franc has also been reduced over the years.

However, it is imperative to understand that the heart and soul of the Chateau Latour vineyard, located close to the Chateau is a 47 hectare parcel known as “Enclos”. There are many people in Bordeaux that consider those 47 hectares to be the best terroir in all of Bordeaux. The 47 hectares of vines in the Enclos vineyard remains almost unchanged since 1794. Only grapes sourced from Enclos are used to produce the Grand Vin of Chateau Latour. When you delve deeper into the soils of the Enclos, you find diversity.

To the north and south, the soils have more clay and marl. In the center of Enclos, which is close to the chateau, you unearth more deep gravel and clay. This is the section that provides the power, grace and depth of Chateau Latour. The powerful tannins often come from vines planted closer to edge of the Enclos. It is the blending of all these parcels that provide the brilliance of the wine here. Overall, the vineyard of Chateau Latour offers elevations and gentle slopes, easy access to water, due to its close proximity to the Gironde and a terroir of gravel, marl and clay soils with deep deposits of limestone in the soil. Underneath the top soil, you find more gravel, with some clay and sand. The gravel at Latour can run from between 4 to 5 meters deep. The elevations are close to 14 meters at its peak.

One can actually divide the soils of Chateau Latour into three distinctive types, large gravel stones, smaller gravel rocks or pebbles and clay. Of course it’s the gravel soils that are perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon. But Chateau Latour has a type of clay in their terroir that is incredibly dense called “Argile Gonflante”.

You can also divide the Latour vineyard into 3 main parcels, with the largest section placed closest to the chateau, abutting Leoville Las Cases to the south. The Comtesse de Lalande parcel is placed between Pauillac and St. Julien and they own another parcel, Petit Batailley, which is just slightly further inland as is Pinada. They also own vines in a block known as Ste-Anne, which is due west, as well as 8 hectares of vines in a parcel known as Artigues, that is used for their third wine. However, it is important to note that the majority of the Latour vineyards are located to the right of the D2 Highway, providing it better access to the river, which gives it a unique micro-climate. Another important distinction is that the vineyards of Chateau Latour have more slopes with various elevations than any of the other First Growths.

The terroir is deep gravel based soils with some clay found in the sub soils. Most of the Merlot planted at Chateau Latour resides in the lower parcels of the Enclos section where the gravel layers are not as prominent, nor as deep. In that section of the vineyard, the marls and clay layers are more apparent in the soil. The small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot in the vines are more likely field blends as they are found inside the vines of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. On average, the vines are about 40 years of age. But Chateau Latour is fortunate to have old vines as well. Some of the oldest vines at Chateau Latour are over 100 years of age. Those vines, which are all Cabernet Sauvignon are in a small parcel known as Le Sarmentier. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 10,000 vines per hectare.

Chateau Latour is fortunate to have old vines as well, some of which are close to 100 years of age. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 10,000 vines per hectare. Currently, Chateau Latour is experimenting with biodynamic farming techniques and sustainable farming in some of their plots. In fact, the number of hectares bio dynamically farmed has been steadily increased over the past few years.

As of 2013, 24 hectares were being farmed using biodynamic techniques while 7 hectares are organically farmed. Starting in 2008, Chateau Latour began using horses to churn the soils in select parcels of vines. Currently 7 horses are used to work the Enclos vineyard. Sustainable farming is stressed at Chateau Latour. In fact, to traverse the vineyards, workers often use mountain bikes, to avoid polluting the soils. Starting with the 2015 vintage, the entire Enclos vineyard is farmed using 100% organic techniques and 50% of the vines are being farmed using biodynamic techniques. This means that to fight disease, they rely on a myriad of different plants, copper and sulfur, which are all found in nature. All fertilizers 100% organic.

Chateau Latour Winemaking

To produce the wine of Chateau Latour, vinification takes place in 80 temperature controlled, stainless steel vats that vary in size from as small as 12 hectoliters up to 164 hectoliters. This range in vat sizes and capacities allows for true, precise, parcel by parcel vinification. The decision as to what specific grape variety or parcel goes into each vat depends on the age of the vines, the varietal and the specific location inside each individual parcel. Malolactic fermentation takes place in vat. Since the cellars were last renovated in 2001, everything in the cellar moves by gravity flow. Chateau Latour is aged in 100% new, French oak barrels, while Les Forts de Latour is aged in 50% new, French oak barrels.

There is a second wine, Les Forts de Latour, which comes from the young vines of the Grand Enclos. The vines used to produce Les Forts de Latour are most often at least 12 years of age. Les Forts de Latour made its debut in 1966. However, before 1990, it was only made in a few vintages. Since 1990, Les Forts de Latour has been produced in every vintage and offered for sale as a future. There is also a third wine, Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour. Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour is produced from grapes that were deemed not good enough to be placed in Les Forts de Latour. Chateau Latour was the first property to produce a third Bordeaux wine. This practice was started at some point in the 1970’s. While still not common, today, other properties are following in their lead in both banks.

Today, the production of Chateau Latour ranges depending on the vintage and its character. Considering the massive amount of demand, not much is made. On average, between 10,000 and 12,000 cases per year are produced of Chateau Latour Grand Vin, which represents about 37% of the production from the harvest.

Der Wein wird fachgerecht gelagert (Etikett, Kapsel und Füllstand siehe Fotos). Weine reifen mit dem Alter und es kommt zu geschmackliche Veränderungen. Entsprechend gibt es aufgrund des Alters keine Garantie mehr ob und wie schmackhaft / trinkbar der Wein noch ist. Das Geschmacksrisiko trägt ausschließlich der Käufer.