Available in Original Wooden Case of 1 / 3 / 6

From an outstanding Bordeaux vintage, 2019 reveals the classic strength and precision of Château Latour’s terroir. The wines show remarkable balance, combining ripe fruit concentration with freshness and structure, reflecting a year of excellent growing conditions that delivered both quality and harmony. Elegant yet powerful, the vintage is defined by its purity, depth and long ageing potential.

The Wine Advocate | RP 99+
Published: Apr 7, 2022
Drink: 2036-2070

The 2019 Latour is a profound wine in the making, and it will surely emerge as one of the most long-lived wines of the vintage, as well as one of the greatest. Unwinding in the glass with scents of rich cassis fruit, English walnuts, cigar wrapper, black truffle, loamy soil and violets, it’s full-bodied, layered and muscular, with huge depth at the core, ripe tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, seemingly interminable finish. Checking in at 14.1% alcohol, this prodigious Latour will require two decades to hit its stride, but it will be more than worth the wait.

Under CEO Frédéric Engerer and technical director Hélène Génin, unremitting perfectionism and attention to detail is the order of the day at Château Latour, so it's no surprise that this great estate has delivered some of the finest wines of the vintage in Bordeaux. Certified organic since 2018, most of Latour's historic "Enclos" is being farmed biodynamically these days, and its entirety is now cultivated by horse to minimize soil compaction and preserve intact as many old vines as possible. But the objective, above all, rather than subscribing to any particular theoretical approach, is to treat the vineyard holistically, as a system, within and with nature rather than against it. Winemaking is precise but traditional, with macerations in stainless steel followed by maturation in barrel with rackings every three months and one fining with egg whites. Great attention is paid to the choice of barrels: each lot is tasted, and its style defined, before it's barreled down in cooperage adapted to that style. But if these methods realize the potential of this great site, what makes Latour's site so great? After all, this isn't the only vineyard to occupy the quaternary gravel terrace that makes its appearance along the banks of the Gironde. When I posed this question, Hélène Génin's response was to point to Latour's lenses of blue clay interfingered with and underlying those gravels. It's these pockets of clay in just the right places, Génin contends, that contain the secret to the wine's elegantly muscular power and immense longevity.

Jancis Robinson | JR 18
Published: Jan 8, 2023
Drink: 2029-2046

Tasted blind. Some evolution at the rim. Meaty and treacly on the nose. Fresh, but not that concentrated. And the tannin is not too heavy. Long, sweet and impressive. Just a little unmarried and jagged for now. A little inky. (JR)

Chateau-latour.com

Château Latour’s Grand Vin is made exclusively from “vieilles vignes”, an average of 60 years-old, in the Enclos. Gravettes, Sarmentier, Pièce de Château... these are the names of some of the finest plots that express the character of the terroir and forge the wine’s identity every year.

The Terroir
The heart of the Enclos is the only terroir that, every year, can produce the depth, elegance and concentration that we expect of the Grand Vin. It is here that the Cabernet Sauvignon (accounting for more than 90% of the blend) can achieve optimal expression in terms of colour, richness and freshness. These wines need time - often a decade- before they begin to be ready for drinking.

The Style
In great vintages, the power and energy of Château Latour's wines enables them to continue to develop for several decades with ease. The bouquet and impressions on tasting gradually evolve, becoming increasingly complex, ultimately reaching a peak, after which the tannins soften and then the wine slowly declines. Beyond the pleasure of drinking them, these wines can produce powerful feelings and unforgettable moments.

Château Latour is also known for having the ability to produce fine wines even in difficult years.

- 2019 - 

Linear and very focused yet silky smooth and round, the aromas keep on developing revealing great complexity and depth of flavour.

Weather Condition

2019 is characterised by its harmony and balance. A cool wet spring followed by a warm and dry summer created the right conditions for a generous crop of exceptional quality.

After a mild and wet autumn, January 2019 was wet (117mm) and quite cold with temperatures 1.6°C lower than normal. The second half of February was much warmer, and this caused the soils to warm up quickly, encouraging an early yet even bud break, registered on 21st March for the Merlot and on 28th March for the Cabernet Sauvignon.

April was stormy (96mm) and cold with a frosty spell mid-month. This cold weather was beneficial as it slowed down vegetative growth, enabling the vines to develop more progressively.

Early June was very unsettled, cool and rainy. However, the weekend from 30th May to 2nd June was exceptionally fine and hot (32°C) so the flowering went well. The Merlot vines were in mid-bloom on 1st June followed by the Cabernet Sauvignon the next day.

Hot and dry weather then set in from mid-June and continued throughout the summer. This led to a progressive increase in hydric stress on certain plots with some sunburn and leaf-loss on younger plants. 27mm of rain in just 4 days at the end of July gave the vines some respite and kick-started the colour-change, which as registered on 6th August for both the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Thanks to these favourable conditions which lasted until mid-September, the berries ripened in the best possible manner and the grapes remained healthy right up to harvest. The Merlot harvest began in the first plots on Friday 13th September and finished on 23rd September. We started picking the Cabernet Sauvignon on 21st September and continued until Saturday 5th October 2019.