Château Latour, 2018 Releases
This is the sixth consecutive year in which Frédéric Engerer and his team at Château Latour direct the sale of their wines not through en primeur, but through the estate’s late release system which kicked off in 2013. Having recently called in to see what the 2017 vintage was tasting like, from barrel, I naturally also took the opportunity to taste the latest wines to be placed on the market.
This year’s trio of wines are an interesting mix. The third wine is the informatively named Pauillac de Château Latour, from the 2013 vintage. As subscribers will already know, not just from my original 2013 Bordeaux report but also from my recent 2013 at Four Years report, this was the worst vintage in the region for at least three decades. It is not a vintage rich in desirable wines, and so the charming and perfumed aromatics of this release were a very pleasant surprise. It is floral, undoubtedly evolved, and really quite pretty. What it doesn’t have, and this is common to most of the red wines from this vintage, is any great substance, or indeed any length. The aromatic profile and its easy-going honesty are perhaps its most saleable features, and if I were to find myself in possession of any I would probably slate them for drinking sooner, rather than later.
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