Chateau Latour 2005

The 2005 Latour (87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot) is a spectacular effort from Château Latour. It has an inky plum/purple color and a gorgeous nose of graphite, crème de cassis, and floral notes with some forest floor in the background. It is full-bodied, super-concentrated, and for my taste, probably one of the two or three most intense, rich, and complex wines of the entire Médoc. The wine has great texture, purity and a finish of close to 40 or 45 seconds. The tannins are surprisingly sweet, even in this large-scaled, masculine wine. Drink it over the next 50+ years. Drink 2015-2065.

Only 44% of the production made it into the dense ruby/purple-hued 2005 Latour, a powerful, backward, 12,000-case blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Petit Verdot and Merlot. As I wrote last year, this classic effort is built for the ages, and is largely destined to be drunk by our offspring rather than anyone over the age of 50 today. Complex aromas of crushed rocks, graphite, black cherries, creme de cassis, new saddle leather, and dried mushrooms are still tightly wound. The wine is full-bodied and powerful with exceptionally high tannin combined with zesty acidity, and laser-like focus. It will require 15 or more years of cellaring. I still prefer the 2003, but administrator Frederic Engerer says this “is more Latour.” Anticipated maturity: 2020-2060. Latour is always the most difficult Medoc first-growth to find, largely because the vineyard and production are much smaller than its’ peers and because of the severe selection routinely done by owner Francois Pinault and administrator Frederic Engerer.

The 2005 Latour has long been a formidable wine. I was granted the opportunity to re-taste the 2005 at the property after their estate released library reserves in February 2017. Now at twelve years of age, it has retained that riveting bouquet of black cherries and black plum, crème de cassis and graphite, although I find less of the latter compared to previous bottles (including the one tasted blind just three weeks earlier). The palate is very well balanced with blackberry, black plum, sea salt, a hint of balsamic, quite spicy in the mouth with a hint of cloves. There is immense weight and presence in the mouth, although I wonder whether the tannins are as fine as say the 2010 or even the nascent 2016 Latour tasted alongside? Either way, it remains a fabulous First Growth destined to last many, many years. Tasted March 2017. Drink 2020-2065.

The Château Latour 2005 has an outgoing and ebullient bouquet with blackberries, wild strawberry, minerals and wilted rose petals. It has great intensity and authority, a bouquet that is polished but not over-buffed. The palate is full-bodied with a silky smooth entry. The acidity is beautifully judged, layers of small red cherries, raspberry and cedar, with graphite revealed towards the long and persistent finish with startling architecture. Outstanding. Drink 2020 - 2060

Incredible aromas of currants and exotic fruit. Hints of chocolate and cigar box. Very complex already. Full-bodied, concentrated and velvety. Chewy and powerful. Pure fruit. This is superpowerful. It's like a tidal wave of fruit and perfect tannins on your palate. This is a Latour 2000 II. On it's way to 100 points.

Tasted blind. Blackish crimson. Edge of something charred. Big, bold fruit juice! Not at all complex yet. Just sheer power of ripeness. Chewy on the end. Difficult to read at this stage but there is some heat on the end.
Drink 2020-2045

Mid to dark ruby - a less impenetrable colour than I would have expected. Savoury, meaty nose. And then some unexpectedly polished tannins. This is far from the monster you might expect from the combination of property and vintage. Quite readable and fine. Quite a surprise. Marked acidity. The building blocks are there but they have yet to be put together. 13%
Drink 2020-2040

Very dark and polished. Tight and intense and very dry and mineral. Latour? Very lovely indeed. So opulent and yet fresh. Utterly complete and lands on the palate all over it and with equal pressure

Excellent depth of colour. Very intense and spicy. Intriguing - this is a wine that drags you in to the glass! Full, ample, wonderful grand spread across the palate. Such magnificence - rides over the palate. All lovely fine tannins and subtlety. No obvious alcohol - dense but not tricksy. Yet there is the squareness and rigour of Latour. Just 13.35 per cent alcohol. Deliberate choice not to go for monstrous alcohol. Very intense and extremely fine. Intense and funnily enough it reminds me a bit of Ausone. The focus of it... The density of it.... Smoky character - a bit of woodsmoke. Very dry tannins but not drying on the finish. Cool, restrained, less aromatic than the Margaux. But very solid. This wine may still be motoring along after the Margaux. Very mineral. Structured like 2004 but with more flesh. Drink 2018-40

Deep garnet colored, the 2005 Latour presents a wonderful combination of pure cassis, violet and toast notes with nuances of black olives, loam and pencil shavings. The palate offers wonderful richness, balance and seamless, going very long and layered in the finish.