Château Latour wines are considered to be one of the best producers of Bordeaux wine. Wine experts had dubbed it to be the most consistent of the Bordeaux First Growths, unlike the four other Châteaus who have records of underperformance. Château Latour had been able to produce excellent wines consistently since the start of its wine production.
With its colorful past, its long history dating back to 1331, Château Latour is famed for such remarkable longevity. It has an unrivaled track record for stunning wine production that ages well as decades, even generations, passed by. Because of the quality it boasts, Château Latour’s mature vintages are expensive.
The History of Château Latour
As mentioned before, Château Latour has a very long and colorful past. The site where the estate stood has occupants since 1331. It has a tower that has been used as a defense during the Hundred Years Wars as the French and Plantagenet fought. Around 1378, the land was named because of its tower and thus got the name “Le Tour.”
When Sieur de Larsan fled the estate after the English were defeated in 1438, the property was returned to the French, and the tower was destroyed. However, the name persisted until today. In the 17th century, a new tower was built on the site of the original tower. Before the century ended, after the estate was passed down in inheritance and marriage, the Latour estate was owned by the Ségur family. The Château Latour’s modern history began under the supervision of Marquis Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur.
Dubbed as “The Prince of Vines” and son of Alexandre de Ségur de Francs with Marie-Therese de Clausel, Nicolas-Alexandre doubled the family’s holdings after buying what would later be the Calon Ségur and Mouton Rothschild. In 1718-1720, they owned three of the five First Growth Châteaus: Latour, Mouton Rothschild, and Lafite Rothschild.
When the 1880s rolled in, the Château’s expansion grew steadily in both estate and the quality of the wines they produce. In 1885, Château Latour had been awarded a Premier Cru status, which was only awarded to four red wines. However, in 1880 still, phylloxera infected the vines in Latour, and the entire vineyard had to be replaced and replanted from 1901 to 1920.
The Ségur family sold control of the Latour in 1963 to a British Group. The group decided to invest in more vineyards and added improvements to the estate’s winery. It was the first winery with a Premier Crus to modernize, adding new equipment and winemaking methods such as replacing old oak fermenting vats with stainless steel. Subsequently, the Château produced their second wine, which was the Le Forts de Latour.
In 1993, François Pinault bought the estate from Allied Lyons for £86 million. Frederic Engerer, a classmate of François Pinault’s son, François-Henri Pinault, managed the property in 1995.
Château Latour as of Today
Château Latour is unrivaled in the wine industry. It possesses some of Bordeaux’s best soils with the gentle slope of the gravelly surface, providing remarkable drainage using small and large stones. The ground below the gravel is moist subsoil consisting of nutrients such as chalk, clay, and marl. These nutrients encourage the roots to burrow deeper into the earth.
Because of the vineyard’s extraordinary climate and terroir, the wines they produce have excellent quality. Take the Latour wine 1994, for example. It is considered a unique vintage for Latour, possessing Merlot with a high percentage (27%). It gives the wine a sweeter and fleshier texture compared to other young Latours. However, it’s vibrant dark ruby/purple color shows that the wine wouldn’t be an easy, commercial-style drink.
Château Latour wines are robust and tannic. Younger wines need to be decanted for an average of 3-6 hours, while the older ones require only a little, enough for the sediment to disappear. It is recommended to consume ones that have a bottle age of 15 years to experience the wine at its best. This can vary. However, Latour wines reach their peak maturity between 18-60 years of bottle age.
Among the other First Growths, Château Latour is considered to be the most age-worthy. This makes them quite hefty. Weaker vintages could cost $300 per bottle, and those found to be a better vintage may dance around $1000 per bottle. They might cost quite a lot, but if the budget allows it, consider trying one. It’s a type of wine that connoisseurs shouldn’t miss.
Takeaway
The Château Latour’s wines are as rich as its history. From the Ségur family to François Pinault, the estate thrives and succeeds with producing one of the best wines the world has seen. Good land, great climate, and a careful process of winemaking, all these factors contribute to the quality of consistency that the wines of Château Latour hold. It is no wonder that the prices of their wines speak for the expertise used to produce them.
