2016 Latour coming in March

From James Suckling’s Instagram post. He gave it 100 points, as well.

Was curious if this was a wine they’d delay releasing another year so it’s good to have confirmation it’s coming sooner.

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My wallet can’t keep handling all these releases

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Well of course he gave it 100 points!

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He probably gave it 100 points without even tasting it.

In all fairness, from that vintage, anything less would be surprising. I bet its a stupendous wine in 20-30 years.

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Well at least I have some JS 100 point LLC and Cos in the cellar at a fraction of the cost!

One can always play the game that LLC and Cos scored the same at a fraction of the price. And it makes sense if you believe in the person scoring the wines. Personally, I do not, I have not tasted LLC, but I have tasted the course, and it ain’t a 100 point wine.

I rarely give 100 points, but I did for another 2016 first growth, Mouton. It was arguably the finest young Bordeaux I have tasted from this millennium, easily at the same level as 1982 and 1986. I would imagine that the Latour is also rather special and plan to buy a couple of bottles and pray for a long old age.

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I’ll be waiting for that auction :slight_smile:

No but, let’s face it, 100 points from JS is the participation trophy for the first growths and other heavy hitters.

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Well the entry price for Latour will be 4 times that of the Cos and maybe 2.5 to 3x the LLC. I bet the LLC side by side will give it a run for its money but hey, that’s what blind tastings are for! I would expect the Latour to outshine the Cos scores be damned.

You just succinctly showed the main problem with the score condensation and the limitations of the 100-point (in reality, 10 point)-system. If Latour and Cos are both 100 points but Latour outshines it, does the score give us any value any more?

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Don’t worry, it’ll be cheaper if you wait.

Well love him or hate him, Laube rarely gave 100 points for anything. Suckling, Dunnuck, LPB - seems like it’s all the time and JS does seem to be the easiest grader. Now, I actually do think wine making has gotten better over the years - so maybe some grade inflation is warranted. But more often than not I will try a pundits 100 pointer and always find some subtle flaws that at least in my mind dial it back to a 96 or 97.

Well I guess this is kind of like their Super Bowl for whether the holding back strategy works or not. No matter how high it’s priced though I find it hard to imagine it would outpace having invested the 2017 en primeur prices in broad-based index funds.

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Clearly, the answer is to give a score above 100.

“This one goes to 11.”
— Nigel Tufnel

Interesting thought.

I would add first: It’s not (only) about maximizing prices for Latour. They want to release the wine, when it’s ready.

Looking at the 2015 released in 2023 we can say the following:

  • Latour and Mouton had the same En Primeur price back for the 2010 vintages
  • Mouton 2015 was released at 384 Euros in 2016
  • Latour 2015 was released at 614 Euros in 2023
  • That would give Latour a yearly return of 6.9% (assuming they would have released at the same price as Mouton back in 2016)
  • EuroStoxx 50 ETF had a yearly return of 3.1% in the period

Hence Latour had a better return by releasing their wine late. Of course, if they would have invested in the S&P500 instead, the ETF return would have been better (10.7% yearly return).

I agree that it may not be merely about maximizing prices of any given release. There could be second-order effects driving the strategy such as making Latour a scarcer item or giving it the veneer of being the top First Growth. These factors are difficult to quantify. But one thing I do know is it’s simply not honest of them to suggest 2016 is “ready to drink” now. In the lifetime of this wine, it’s basically no more ready to drink now than it would have been had they followed the normal release schedule.

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I agree with this. Just like Mugnier it was about maximizing rarity. 16 Latour was probably better to drink in 19 or whenever 16 first growths came on the ,market.

I think the strategy at the time was brilliant. Keep cash flow going with Les Forts and Pauillac, and release when “ready”

Of course, it is naive to think the 2016 is ready. The release has absolutely nothing to do with the wine, but everything to do with what works for the business. As well as deciding to cash out at as high a price as possible, it also gives a false sense of rarity, which elevates its reputation. Latour makes a lot of wine, 10,000 cases of grand vin, so there is plenty to go round.

Latour releases reminds me a little of the Stew Leonard grocery store. There are no long aisles; instead you are shuffled by zigs and zags to various parts of the store. You have to play the game in order to buy.

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I used to like Stew Leonard’s back when i lived in the NYC area 20 years ago. I remember the $5/lb whole fillet mignon !

Any guess on where the Latour is priced?

I’ll play.

Guessing $1,250.00 USD.

Gosh I hope not. $700?