Château Latour: Wines
At harvest the fruit is picked by hand into small, 8-kilogram trays, a typical yield being 35-37 hl/ha, although it can go much lower of course, such as the 25 hl/ha seen in the difficult 2013 vintage. The trays of freshly-picked fruit are then being taken the short distance up to the chai. The fruit is raised to the upper levels, and then sorted twice before heading to the vats. The first sorting is fairly coarse, for removing vegetative matter and any obviously substandard fruit, while after destemming a second sorting further enhances selection. The fruit is then lightly crushed and sent to the vats. These vary greatly in size, ranging from just 12 up to 170 hectolitres, and thus they allow for fermentation of many different lots of varying sizes, divided up according to plot of origin, age of vine and naturally grape variety.
After the alcoholic fermentation there is a three-week cuvaison followed by running off and a return of the new wine into clean vats, where the malolactic fermentation takes place. The skins are also pressed to generate a press wine. Come December, the wine goes into barrels to begin its élevage. It is during this process that further selection and blending for the different cuvées takes place. This begins in January, and Frédéric Engerer and his team, including maître de chai Pierre-Henri Chabot, have for many years been assisted by father-and-son consultants Jacques and Eric Boissenot, although after Jacques’ death in 2014 Eric consults alone. There is frequent topping-up, with the clarity ensured by a series of rackings followed by an egg-white fining at about a year, then followed by a final racking.
