Château Latour:
2025 New Releases

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | JANUARY 21, 2025

This year’s new releases from Château Latour are especially
strong as they span three important vintages, each of which has something to
offer. The 2020 Pauillac is all charm, the 2019 Forts de Latour is a potent, backward wine, and the
2016 Latour Grand Vin is indeed grand. I tasted the wines with Estate Director
Hélène Genin during a visit to the château in December 2024.The 2020 Pauillac is superb. The aromatics alone are compelling.
Lavender, sage, menthol, black pepper and licorice all jump from the glass.
This just screams with Cabernet character. Dark, vibrant and super-expressive,
the 2020 is an absolute delight. Its vibrancy and delineation are both
admirable. What a gorgeous, gorgeous wine this is.

The 2019 Forts de Latour is a tannic, backward wine, as it has
always been. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, graphite, sage and mocha open with
a bit of coaxing. Even so, the 2019 is incredibly tight at this stage. Despite
its imminent release, I would not dream of touching a bottle any time soon.
Rain just before harvest in this warm vintage helped keep things in check and
resulted in fairly generous yields of 45 hectoliters per hectare. At the same
time, the mid-palate is a bit compact, while the tannins are imposing.

The 2016 Latour is magnificent. Regal and
nuanced, with tons of energy, the 2016 is immediately captivating. The bouquet
announces an important wine, a feeling that builds through the wine's
mid-palate. There's a real feeling of exuberance in 2016, and yet the wine
remains quite classic in its structural composition. Beams of supporting tannin
extend the effortless, beautifully persistent finish. Unforgettable.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1737474299247-CF_Jan212025_copy.jpg">© 2025 Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

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