Château Latour 2014 - 1st Great Cru Class
Château Latour is located in the heart of the Médoc wine region, about 50 km northwest of Bordeaux, where the legend of the Bordeaux vineyard was created. The heart of its terroir, l'Enclos, overlooks the Gironde estuary where the river and the ocean have given it its geological complexity over the centuries and favor the mild climate every day.
Today, the vineyard covers 92 hectares, 47 of which are located around the Château, known as "l'Enclos", a historic terroir, which is divided into two main soil types:
- The clayey gravels, in the heart of the Enclos.
- Gravelly sands, on the periphery of the Enclosure
This Enclosure is made up of a ridge that rises to 16 meters above the level of the Gironde, surrounded to the north and south by two streams and to the east by the "Palus" of the Gironde's edge. The forty or so hectares located outside the Enclos are made up of several very fine plots ("Petit Batailley", "Pinada",..) acquired over the course of history. Their grapes are used in the blending of the Forts de Latour, and the younger vines in the Pauillac.
Château Latour also makes a second wine called "Les Forts de Latour" of remarkable quality. Not to mention the latest "Le Pauillac de Château Latour".
Latour's depth, power and sheer confidence shine through. This is an extremely classic 2014 - everything is well-framed, with clarity, grip and balance, sculpted black currant and blackberry fruit, hints of raspberry leaf and crushed stones. The Cabernet Sauvignon dominates, but its tannins are still strict and muscular, with weight and width on the palate.
As it opens up, graphite, violet and campfire smoke curl into the wine's center, along with slow, steady waves of saffron and sage spice. This is definitely one of the wines of the vintage, with which to take its time to let the slow progression of flavors and textures unfold at its own pace. It will benefit from a few more years in the bottle before really coming into its own, and has decades ahead of it.
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com, February 2022
Latour 2014 is one of the very best wines from a vintage that favored the northern Medoc. Blending aromas of wild berries and black currants with notes of cigar wrapper, loamy soil, black truffle and classy new oak, it is full-bodied, rich and concentrated, its broad attack continuing through a deep, tight mid-palate framed by powdery, chalky tannins and lively acidity to a long, mouthwatering finish. This classically balanced, youthfully structured young wine seems destined for prodigious longevity. It is reminiscent of a modern version of a cooler vintage like 1996, though of course these days the maturity is more complete and the selection even more rigorous than it was twenty years ago.
William Kelley, Wine Advocate, March 2022
Data sheet
- Designation
- Pauillac
- Year
- 2014
- Color
- Red
- Acceptance
- 89,8 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 9,2 % Merlot, 0,6 % Cabernet Franc et 0,3 % de Petit Verdot
- Alcohol level
- Apogee
- 2026 - 2050
Wine Advocate / William Keller - Noté 97+/100 (march 2022)
James Suckling - Noté 97/100 (march 2022)
Vinous / Antonio Galloni -
Jane Anson - Noté 96/100 (february 2022)
The Wine Independent / Lisa Perrotti-Brown - Noté 96/100 (march 2022)
Vinous / Neal Martin - Noté 95/100 (march 2022)
