Château Latour-Martillac: Tasting & Drinking
With recent investment and the enthusiasm of the Kressmanns, it is perhaps no surprise that the wines of Château Latour-Martillac have shown marked improvements during recent years. When I first profiled this estate I had not tasted too many recent vintages, and yet there were certainly obvious signs that change was afoot. The 2004 vintage, for instance, had plenty of appeal, in the white wine at least. Since then, bearing in mind that we are looking at dry white as well as red wines here, the estate has been blessed with a number of favourable vintages. The 2005 vintage, a swansong for Michel Rolland at this estate, was certainly good for the red wine, and 2006 produced a very admirable white wine, this being a very much overlooked vintage, especially when it comes to the dry white wines of Bordeaux.
With the advice of Denis Dubourdieu the red wines seem to show greater presence and elegant perfume too, and are perhaps more representative of the appellation and terroir, to my palate at least. The 2009 and 2010 vintages are cases in point, the red wines convincingly surpassing the quality of the whites. Nevertheless this estate remains under the radar and potentially good value, as many critics choose to direct all their attention towards the likes of Domaine de Chevalier and Château Haut-Bailly. Château Latour-Martillac is certainly an estate worth keeping an eye on. (21/9/07, updated 20/2/13)