Cellar Favorite: Château Latour 2025 Late Releases
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Following Antonio Galloni’s take on this year’s late releases from Château Latour (the First Growth having exited the customary primeur campaign in 2012), here is my own take on the trio that will hit the market this March. The headline-grabbing release is the 2016 Latour, a vintage that I have tasted in bottle a couple of times at the château and at the Southwold tasting. Without doubt, it is a dazzling wine that will rank amongst the pinnacles of the decade, though I am glad that I waited 30 minutes to let it unfold in my glass. This was a useful time to chat with head winemaker Hélène Genin, the talent behind recent legendary vintages. Is it sexist in any way to suggest that I think Genin has lent this traditionally tannic and muscular wine that needed years to mellow a welcome feminine touch? Certainly, the 2016 is a vintage imbued with more approachability than say, the 2010, the tannins now a little more pliant with less bone-crunching grip on the finish. Having tasted over 60 vintages of Latour, I would not hesitate to place the 2016 amongst the top-tier vintages produced over the last century. Naturally, bottles ain’t gonna be cheap, but at least it is flanked by the 2019 Les Forts de Latour and 2020 Pauillac de Latour, the latter perhaps the best I have tasted and equal to some of the appellation’s Grand Vins.
It will be interesting to see how these releases fare in a market coping with strong economic headwinds and a softening of market prices even at the top end. Then again, it is Latour, and we are talking about arguably the greatest vintage of recent years. Tempted?
