Château Latour - Pauillac 2009

Wine Advocate

97 / 100

byNeal Martinthe1/1/2013

Served blind at the Southwold 2009 tasting. The Latour '09 has a comparatively exotic bouquet with macerated small dark cherries, mango sorbet, and blackcurrant and vanilla pod. There is a floral component that lends it a Margaux like veneer. The palate is medium-bodied with firm grip on the entry. There is a pleasing saline edge, firm grip with a pleasing crescendo towards the opulent but controlled, delineated finish. Perhaps it is showier than its peers, but why not? And there is enormous grip and weight on the finish, making this an impressive Latour for long-term ageing. Tasted January 2013.

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

96 / 100

byStephen Tanzerthe7/31/2012

Deep purple-ruby. Pungent floral and spice notes enliven complex aromas of dark plum, cocoa and minerals. Large-scaled and juicy, with lively acidity giving sharp definition to the uncommonly deep, pure flavors of black fruits, forest floor and dark spices. The impressively ripe, powerful finish features youthfully chewy tannins and outstanding persistence. This big boy will require a lot of patience: forget about it in the cellar for at least 15 years. (96+ points)

Wine Advocate

100 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe2/29/2012

A blend of 91.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.7% Merlot with just under 14% natural alcohol, the 2009 Latour is basically a clone of the super 2003, only more structured and potentially more massive and long lived. An elixir of momentous proportions, it boasts a dense purple color as well as an extraordinarily flamboyant bouquet of black fruits, graphite, crushed rocks, subtle oak and a notion of wet steel. It hits the palate with a thundering concoction of thick, juicy blue and black fruits, lead pencil shavings and a chalky minerality. Full-bodied, but very fresh with a finish that lasts over a minute, this is one of the most remarkable young wines I have ever tasted. Will it last one-hundred years? No doubt about it. Can it be drunk in a decade? For sure.

Jamessuckling.com

100 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe2/15/2012

A breathtaking combination of dried flowers and minerals, with dark fruits such as currants and blackberries. Full-bodied, with fabulous fruit concentration, yet its compacted. Velvety tannins. So much fruit and beauty. It's the quality of the tannins that are magic. It is the famous 1959 all over again. Amazing. Try in 2022.

Wine Spectator

99 / 100

byJames Molesworththe1/11/2012

This seems to come full circle, with a blazing iron note and mouthwatering acidity up front leading to intense, vibrant cassis, blackberry and cherry skin flavours that course along, followed by the same vivacious minerality that started things off. The tobacco, ganache and espresso notes seem almost superfluous right now, but they'll join the fray in due time. The question is, can you wait long enough? Best from 2020 through 2040.-J.M

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

97-100 / 100

byIan D'Agatathe6/30/2010

(a 91/9 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot; 13.7% alcohol; 87 IPT; roughly 38% of the total crop) Purple ruby. Flamboyant aromas of red cherry, cassis, graphite and cedar soar from the glass. Then very dense, supple and smooth, with a noble texture and great breadth to its red cherry, blackcurrant, spicy plum, ink and cedar flavors. Finishes with exceptionally velvety tannins and a very ripe, almost perfumed quality to the red and black fruit flavors. A large-scaled and clearly great wine that calls to mind a combination of the 1982 and 2005 Latours. That said, while this wine shares some of the 2009 Mouton's voluptuous perfume, it lacks the extraordinary finesse of either the 2009 Lafite or Margaux, but is much more powerful than both of those wines. Millionaires will have a lot of fun over the years comparing the first growths of 2009 and arguing over which is the best.

Le Figaro

99-100 / 100

byBernard Burtschythe6/30/2010

Le château n’a pas hésité à déclasser de superbes merlots qui diluaient l’impressionnante densité du vin qui est, de ce fait, constitué de 91 % de cabernet-sauvignon. Impressionnant de race et de longueur, il possède un petit supplément de charme par rapport au monumental 2005. Robe impressionnante. Nez construit sur la distinction avec de belles notes épicées, le tout est complexe. En bouche, l’attaque est racée, le milieu de bouche d’un raffinement extrême, le tout est long avec des tannins ultrafins, superbe finale. 91 % cabernet-sauvignon, 9 % merlot.

timatkin.com

99 / 100

byTim Atkin MWthe6/30/2010

13.7% alcohol. 91.3CS, 8.7M A whisper away from perfection, this is one of the most profound Latours I have ever tasted. It’s thick and dense with lashings of new oak. Rich, concentrated and powerful, with the high percentage of Cabernet providing backbone and structure, this is a wine for the long haul with incredible fruit concentration, but smooth tannins. 30+ years.

La Revue du Vin de France

19-20 / 20

the5/31/2010

Seuls 38% de la récolte ont été retenus pour élaborer ce 2009 constitué à 91% de cabernet sauvignon et 9% de merlot. Le vin a une immense profondeur, avec une très grande netteté de fruit et une chair qui enrobe sa trame étirée. Il a su conserver un style bordelais, tout en affichant une richesse exceptionnelle. Sa persistance et la qualité de ses tanins signent son immense classe. Il est parti pour cinquant ans de garde.

Le Point

19 / 20

byJacques Dupontthe5/6/2010

Réglisse, épicé, fruits noirs, violette, tendu, vif, plein, tendu, riche, Tendu, très frais, puissant, beaucoup d'élements dans ce vin d'une grande complexité. O=2018 G=30 ans

Wein Wisser

20 / 20

byRené Gabrielthe4/30/2010

91,3 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 8,7 % Merlot, also ein Latour ohne Cabernet Franc und Petit Verdot! 38,3 % der Produktion wurde für den Grand Vin ausgewählt. Sattes, dichtes Purpur-Granat mit lila Reflexen. Klares, verhaltenes, feines statt mächtiges Bouquet, zuerst fein milchig, dann rahmig, dann sehr reife Brombeeren, parfümiertes Cassis, feinste Edelhölzer und eine besonders zarte Zedernholznote, die sonst eher dem Ducru vorbehalten ist. Perfekter, stilsicherer Gaumen, alles ist an seinem Ort, der Wein ist völlig auf die Reife des Cabernets ausgerichtet, königliche Adstringenz, ein zarter Hauch Karamell. Zweifellos ein ganz grosser Latour, aber irgendwie vermisse ich die brachiale Genialität von früher. Kommt, bei beginnender Reife, der Trüffel noch? Die Tiefe des Terroirs? Die dunklen Steinpilze und frisch gehackten Kräuter? Die Minze? Wird es ein Latour wie früher? Oder zollt man hier der Perfektion des heutigen, jedes Detail betrachtenden «Quality-Managements» Tribut? Die Zeit wird es erweisen – auch wenn nur Wenige zu Zeugen werden dürften, denn dieser Latour wird nicht nur teuer, sondern so richtig extrem teuer. 2020–2060

TAST

19,5 / 20

by Bettane & Desseauvethe4/30/2010

Corps colossal, tanin en proportion, peut-être un peu moins immédiatement affiné que celui de Lafite, immense et rigoureux, encore dans les limbes de l’enfance, bref le Latour qu’on attend et qu’on aime dans ce millésime d’exception. Mais qui pourra se l’offrir dans notre vieille Europe ?

Wine Advocate

98-100 / 100

byNeal Martinthe4/30/2010

Tasted at the château. Very deep purple colour. The nose is very well defined with scents of small blackberry, boysenberry, cold granite and just a hint of pencil lead. Great clarity and expression here. This is a majestic Latour, utterly pure, wonderful minerality showing through, very fine tannins and incredible poise. Blackberry, touches of briary, coiled up energy towards the finish, utterly focused with that tannins leaving an off-dry finish with bewitching persistency. There is paradoxically weight and weightlessness...sorry to be so cryptic, but that is how it is! A monumental Latour that constitutes one of the greatest wines of the vintage. Tasted March 2010.

Falstaff

98-100 / 100

byPeter Moserthe4/30/2010

Vielschichtig, Gewürze, Orangenzesten, exotische Hölzer, Kirschen, rauchige Nuancen. Enormes Tanninkleid, ein monolithischer Block von Wein, zart nach Bitterschokolade, frische Struktur, immense Länge, schokoladig im Abgang.

Periodic Review of Wine

98-100 / 100

byAlan Duranthe4/28/2010

Another colossal Latour in the making! It has to be tasted to experience its sheer size and scope. This remarkable estate has produced such noteworthy wines and the thrilling extravagance of ripe fruit makes the 2009 no different. It boasts a deep saturated purple color followed by wonderful fragrances of white/blue flower, crushed-limestone, blackberry extract, crème de cassis, graphite dust, and underlying notions of sweet smoke. This wine is so crammed, flavorful, full-bodied, dense, and magnificently rich with such expansiveness and complexity to the length. The flavors are of blue fruit and liquefied-minerals. A crowing achievement. Wow! Maturity period 2018-2050+

Wine Advocate

98-100 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/28/2010

The 2009 Latour has off the charts concentration in addition to the highest level of tannin ever measured at the estate. The final blend was somewhat unusual in that it consists of 91.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.7% Merlot, and clocked in at 13.7% alcohol (even higher than the 2003). Possibly a 100-year wine, it boasts an inky/black/purple color as well as an extraordinary perfume of super-intense blue and black fruits, graphite, and a liqueur of rocks-like minerality. Enormously full-bodied yet at the same time incredibly fresh, vibrant, and precise, it coats the mouth, and builds incrementally to skyscraper-like texture, and a whopping finish that lasts over a minute. This remarkable wine reveals a certain accessibility already, yet one senses that it will be even richer, more nuanced, and fuller by the time it is bottled in mid -2011. A monumental wine from a monumental vintage in the Medoc, this is our children's children's children's elixir. (Tasted once.) There is no doubting that Director Frederic Engerer and owner Francois Pinault are thrilled with what they have accomplished at Latour. These three wines are hugely different in price, but all are extraordinary.

Anthony Rose

98 / 100

byAnthony Rosethe4/26/2010

With 91.3% cabernet sauvignon and 8.7% merlot (Latour has given the most precise figures of any château), the Latour Grand Vin quite clearly has a very high proportion of cab this year and 100% new oak. This is gorgeous right from the moment go, a majestic nose that’s highly aromatic, with more evident oak than the other two Latours, dense in colour, opaque, cigar box and cedary spice, lovely sweet rich concentrated, dense fruit quality, firm structure of tannins and acidity, holding the sweet flesh in check, all beautifully proportioned, superb fresh dark black berry and cassis fruits and damsony acidity. Impressively proportioned and yet all beautifully balanced with a magnificent suffusion of oak spice adding style and quality. A very grand wine. It feels like it’s drinkable now (usually a good sign) but will last a generation if you want it to.

Wine Spectator

97-100 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe4/9/2010

This is incredibly floral on the nose, with violet and lilac as well as dark and ripe raspberry and blueberry. Full-bodied, with a dense and incredibly rich palate yet held back and in reserve. Such precision and beauty. It lasts for minutes on the palate. This reminds me of the 1990, but better made and better raised. It is really the style of Latour, where the tannins grab you at the end. This will most likely be a perfect wine.

Decanter Magazine

19.5 / 20

bySteven Spurrierthe4/9/2010

Black red, huge concentration of black fruits and great purity, wonderfully fragrant nose with wild violets and lifted freshness, great length and perfect texture, totally Latour and all the fruit and vineyard will come out over the years. Drink 2018-45

Jancis Robinson

19 / 20

byJancis Robinsonthe4/7/2010

Very deep and glowing crimson. Very rich and sweet ink on the nose. Wonderfully gorgeous and lush on the front palate. Then lots of heat and richness. Amazing power of fruit on the mid palate gives way to extremely pronounced tannins. Transparent, mellifluous, spicy. Violets, says Engerer. Dry Taylors port? Latour backbone. Glossy ripe fruit. Candied violets. Maybe in 03 we went overboard. Enormous energy. Very impressive. 13.7%. Drink 2022-2045