Chateau Latour Vertical in ATL 1964-2003

That was in error…they poured the wrong flight first (everything bagged)

Great post and saved for future reference. The 1982 sounds really nice; I’ll be looking for one soon. Thanks for posting your notes and wow, definitely a tasting to remember.

Not surprised that '82 or 90 looked great. But 2001 was underrated and looks like it stood up to others quite well.

I own a stack of 2001 (and 2000 and 2005). Was thinking of popping a 2001 next month.

Wish I’d been there!

Minor, picky criticism: in light of Latour’s track record in difficult years, it might have been instructive to slip in a couple of less politically correct vintages.

Alex R.

I think it depends on the bottle and storage …
1982 L. is certainly in its drinking window, but usually not as advanced as your note sounds …

Glass 5- This wine (1966) was horribly oxidized. It had some stewed fruit. Don’t know if it was provenance or just the bottle is now struggling. The oldest wine to me. I guessed 1964.

This vintage can be excellent - had a fine experience from a half bottle just over a year ago, which was fully mature but still strong.

Has my name on it, mine please…

Great notes Don. Glad to see that my single bottle of '70 is drinking well.

Don great notes and good to see you for all three events. Thanks for co-organizing Fri. night’s debauchery. Great time.

As for the LLC and Ch. Latour, it is was an honor to attend this amazing event. I had done Latour once before back to 1959 down w/ the FL crew, but that was long ago. Anyway, I’ll never forget this weekend and with a ton of photos, likely will be plastered on FB in the coming days/weeks. I’ve never tried to upload images here before.

Good to see Todd F., Robert F. and others who post here too. A monumental weekend!

If your lucky!!

+1

Todd French
…calling u out…where r your notes for latour and las cases???

Damn - thought you had forgotten…

No sir I have not :slight_smile:

Bonfili and I had a Christmas dinner with all but the '64 you listed, and a few more as well. No corkers and the best tasting we have ever organized. Our '66 was staggering and my WOTN. No, I am wrong, we had no '03. Anyway, Latour kills it. Destroyed our similar effort with Margaux.

My notes on the tasting, which again were so otherworldly, knowing how little of this wine I’ll have the chance to taste again, much less in verticals this well planned. I so treasure these tastings, and am so thankful to the Taylors for inviting me. I think perhaps I’m brought there to be the only one allowed to give Yves crap on a regular basis.


Flight 1:

  1. Smells gorgeous, beautiful balance on the nose, flowers, graphite, still a bit shy, tannic, so shy on the palate, fruit not emerging much for me - needs more time, but nice wine. (I correctly guessed '01)

  2. A bit darker fruit on the nose, deeper and darker overall, lovely satiny mouthfeel and sweet predominantly red fruits, finish a bit short and astringent. Best of this wine was its mouthfeel. (I guessed '03 but it was '98)

  3. Loads of coffee and cocoa powder on the nose - very different from all others so far in the tasting. Bit of smoky wood when aerated a bit, it has an overall dark character as well. Great weight, tannins very big and very round - well integrated. Best finish of the trio thus far, well balanced. (I guessed '98 and it was '03)

  4. Perfect amount of brett, combined with tanned leather and black cherries. Lovely nose with a bit of stony character. Gorgeous sweet fruits on the palate, not as rich on the mouthfeel as #3, higher acidity. (I guessed '96 but it was the '00)

  5. Some perfume, lilacs, roses on the nose, hugely sweet fruits - beautiful, fantastic weight, great balance of dry, powdery tannins and acid, long finish. Well made wine. (I guessed '00 because of the beautiful balance and youth on this wine, but it was the '02)

  6. Smells very slightly stewed, but not offensive, just stands out in the flight. A bit of grilled vegetables, pepper, and red fruits on the palate. Short, astringent finish. (because of the green qualities, I went with '02, but it was the '96)


    Flight 2 :

1: Beautiful nose but hard to pick out specifics. I think lightly corked, nice sweet fruits coming through, cherry and sweet raspberry, not a perfect bottle, not a lot of upside. (I correctly guessed '70)

2: Love this nose - young and fresh, packed with sweet anise, red cherry, rich mouthfeel, powerful finish that is very long. One attendant who spoke about this wine, about all its many qualities, referred to it - I think VERY accurately - as ‘these wine’. (I correctly guessed '90 - great wine - my #1 and the group’s #1)

3: Nose seems a little fading. Sweet fruit on the palate, but some astringency, still has some ‘classic’ Bordeaux qualities to it, but I’m getting the feeling this is a good wine but not a good bottle. (I guessed '66, was the '82, which further solidified my estimation that we had a less-than-stellar bottle on our end, particularly when it was beat out by the '90 because our side of the table didn’t rate it as high as the other)

  1. Fruit pruning a bit, a little ashen in character, classic vintage profiles with graphite, dusty leather, olive oil, etc., but the pruned fruits just turn me off too much. (I correctly guessed '64)

  2. Stewed fruit, so much so that it must be a hot vintage. Still strong acidic backbone and very fine, very dusty tannins. (I guessed 70 (which apparently I did on two, Yves-style) but it was '66)

  3. Beautiful young nose, peppered meat, lots of florals, smell of berries, rich mouthfeel but fruit not terribly sweet - I’d guess a colder vintage, but really nice wine. (I correctly guessed '95)


    The lesson I learned from Latour is that when one is guessing vintages, it’s normal to rely on characterizations you expect from vintages - hot vintages, cool ones, weak ones, etc - but with Latour, it was DAMN DIFFICULT! A wine made in a world class manner, regardless of vintage, cannot be easily identified just in looking for imperfections expected from the vintage. I got fooled several times with Latour as a result.

Nice job Todd.
It was great to be with you at the tasting!

See Todd that wasn’t too hard!

'82 Latour has been drinking great for a number of years now with no downside in the horizon. One of the best wines I’ve ever had.