Latour - Pauillac 2017

Wine Advocate

94-94

byWilliam Kelleythe4/26/2024

The just-released 2017 Latour is surprisingly accessible by this estate's standards, offering up expressive aromas of crème de cassis, cigar wrapper, pencil shavings, burning embers and creamy new oak, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and layered palate that's fleshy and complete, with lively acids and a long, vanillin-inflected finish.

Vinous

96

byAntonio Gallonithe4/2/2024

The 2017 Latour is just starting to open aromatically. Medium in body, with tannins that have begun to soften, the 2017 is super-expressive and inviting today. It’s a charming, relatively accessible young Latour that is all about finesse and understatemen

The Wine Independent

98

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe3/14/2024

A blend of 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8% Merlot, and 0.1% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Latour has a deep garnet-purple color. It sashays out with showy notes of warm cassis, mulberries, and Morello cherries, followed by emerging tertiary hints of unsmoked cigars, rose oil, cardamom, and star anise, with a waft of iron ore. The medium-bodied palate is elegantly styled and mineral-laced, featuring loads of exotic sparks and velvety tannins, finishing on a lingering anise note. Beautiful! While it's in a nice place right now, another 2 to 4 years in bottle should allow for even more of this gorgeous, emerging perfume. It will easily cellar for another 30 years beyond that.

Vinous

96

byAntonio Gallonithe2/20/2024

The 2017 Latour is just starting to open aromatically. Medium in body, with tannins that have begun to soften, the 2017 is super-expressive and inviting today. It’s a charming, relatively accessible young Latour that is all about finesse and understatement. Bright saline notes and lifted floral top notes convey class.

Wine Advocate

98

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe3/17/2020

The 2017 Latour is a blend of 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8% Merlot and 0.1% Petit Verdot with 13.3% alcohol and an IPT of 66. Deep garnet-purple in color, it starts off a little broody before exploding from the glass with powerful scents of ripe blackcurrants, blackberry pie and preserved black cherries plus touches of cedar chest, fenugreek, cumin seed and charcoal with emerging wafts of violets, dark chocolate, star anise and fertile loam. Medium-bodied, this may be one of the most elegant, great Latours ever, revealing layer upon layer of fresh, crunchy black fruits with a vast array of exotic spice and floral nuances, framed by super ripe, super fine-grained tannins, finishing very long with mineral sparks coming through. This is so nuanced and perfumed that I imagine, in 50 years, this wine could be mistaken for a great red Burgundy. Drinking Window : 2026 - 2075

Vinous

97

byAntonio Gallonithe3/11/2020

The 2017 Latour lives in the realm of the totally sublime. Vertical and deep, with soaring intensity, Latour is simply magnificent in 2017. I especially like the energy and aromatic depth of the 2017, but all the elements are just impeccably balanced throughout. Constantly changing in the glass, the 2017 is a mesmerizing Latour that will thrill those lucky enough to own it.

Wine Spectator

98

byJames Molesworththe2/7/2020

A pure, sleek, seamless beauty, featuring a crystal-clear core of cassis, cherry and damson plum fruit racing along, glistening with lilac, iron and wet pebble notes. Shows terrific spine and clarity, with well-buried grip running throughout. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2040. — JM

Jeb DUNNUCK

96

byJeb Dunnuckthe2/3/2020

Based on 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8 % Merlot, and a splash of Petite Verdot, the 2017 Chateau Latour spent 16 months in new barrels and hit 13.3% natural alcohol with a pH 3.7 and an IPT of 66. It's a classic, ageworthy Latour offering a deep purple/ruby hue, textbook Latour graphite, lead pencil, minerality, and cassis-driven aromatics, building tannins, and a beautiful sense of power married to elegance. Flawlessly balanced, medium to full-bodied, and with the class that this estate is known for, hide bottles for 7-8 years and enjoy over the following 3-4 decades.

Jamessuckling.com

99

byJames Sucklingthe1/13/2020

Ripe and very powerful aromas of black licorice, currants and violets. Full-bodied, dense and flavorful with lots of very new, flashy wood. Sexy and gorgeous. Round and polished tannins. Superb wine for the vintage. Try after 2028.

Le Point

18

byJacques Dupontthe6/20/2018

Ouvert, fruits rouges, note florale, boisé élégant, frais, très savoureux, bien construit, texture moelleuse, tanins présents, bien enrobés, beaucoup de finesse, fruité éclatant.

Jeb DUNNUCK

95-97

byJeb Dunnuckthe6/12/2018

I suspect the wine of the vintage on the Left Bank, the 2017 Château Latour is similar in style to the 2008, with maybe a hint of the 2012 in there as well. Concentrated, backward, full-bodied and reserved (it is Latour after all), yet with serious potential, it has textbook lead pencil and graphite aromas and flavors, sweet tannin, and a long, structured style on the palate. Hitting 13.4% alcohol (with a pH of 3.72), it’s not in the same league as some of the great vintages from this estate, yet it’s still a profound wine that will keep for 25-30 years. The final blend is 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8% Merlot, and just a splash of Petit Verdot, which accounts for a miniscule 30% of the total production of the estate.

Vinifera

95-97

byJacques Perrinthe5/28/2018

Nez sombre et profond, sur la ronce, goudron noble, épicé (poivre long). Suavité des cabernet bien mûrs sur l’attaque, ampleur et profondeur, le vin déroule une trame de tanins doux et confortables. Il finit encore séveux et sérieux mais sans dureté, ultra-classique. Un Latour de grand charme.

Vinous

94-97

byAntonio Gallonithe5/15/2018

The 2017 Latour is bright and bursting with energy, with tremendous aromatic presence that is a leitmotiv of both the vintage and the three wines at Latour this year. In 2017, the Grand Vin is especially focused in both feel and style. Beams of salinity give the 2017 a striking backbone of structure. The 2017 reminds me of the 2014, but with a bit more mid-palate pliancy. Put it more simply, the 2017 is just superb.

The Wine Cellar Insider

97-99

byJeff Levethe5/11/2018

Showing a caliginous hue, the wine is concentrated, full bodied, powerful, firm and graceful, coating your palate with layers of ripe, sweet, dark red fruits with salty tannins. Even with all the acidity it is impossible not to enjoy the ample sweet fruits, firm, ripe tannins, complexity and incredible length, with purity of fruit, that lingers. It's a Latour that should be a pleasure to taste between 15-20 years after the vintage, which is fine since you'll probably be waiting until 2027, give or take, until it's released. The wine was made from a blend of 92.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.8% Merlot and 0.1% Petit Verdot, reaching 13% alcohol. The harvest took place starting with the Merlot September 11, finishing with the Cabernet October 4.

Vinous

94-96

byNeal Martinthe5/1/2018

The 2017 Latour has a backward bouquet compared to the Les Forts de Latour, very well defined but it needs coaxing from the glass. Eventually it clicks into fifth gear, offering subtle iris and wild hedgerow aromas, just a touch of mint developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with firm but fine tannin that provides this Grand Vin with real backbone, also a sense of symmetry. It might not possess the flair or quite the enthralling precision of the 2016, but it is a quintessential Latour in many ways with a very long persistence on the finish.

Wine Advocate

97-99

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe4/27/2018

The 2017 Latour is very deep purple-black in color and sings of crème de cassis, warm plums, blackberry pie and cinnamon stick with hints of sandalwood, violets, star anise, baker’s chocolate and a touch of beef drippings. Medium-bodied, firm, grainy and very structured with taut, sustained mid-palate fruit, it gives loads of black fruit and spice layers and a very long, mineral-tinged finish.

Decanter.com

97

byJane Ansonthe4/25/2018

Latour is an utterly fascinating wine to taste nowadays, as there is little doubt that it is undergoing a profound change - almost certainly due to biodynamics. The 2017 is less monumental and yet no less impactful than previous vintages, and is very much in the frame of recent Latours. They are bravely following where they believe it should be, rather than where the market expects it to be. It opens with hugely vibrant spice followed by powerful, richly concentrated cassis and autumnal fruits that steal up on you. This beautiful wine has great persistency and precision, with real bearing and good Pauillac structure. Those tannins come rushing in until, by the end, you feel their insisting power. The levels of precision are astonishing - the team blind-tasted the berries for three weeks before harvest to track maturity and decide picking dates. There are touches of 100-year-old Petit Verdot in here. 30.3% of the estate's production went into the grand vin. 6.4% press wine. 66 IPT.

Drinking Window 2027 - 2042

WeinWisser

19

byRené Gabrielthe4/25/2018

92,1 % Cabernet Sauvig­non, 7,8 % Merlot, 0,1 % Petit Verdot. Sat-tes Granatrubin mit lila Schimmer. Kom-plexes rotbeeriges und tiefgründiges Bouquet mit Trüffel und Graphit, lm zwei-ten Ansatz schwarze Johannisbeeren, Pflaumenhaut und Flieder. Am konzent-rierten und dichten Gaumen mit engma-schigem, reifem Tanningerüst und kühler Ausstrahlung, trotzdem elegant, ge-schliffen und mit enormer Prâzision. lm gebündelten, sehr langanhaltenden Fina­le mit Wacholder, schwarzen Oliven, Ei-senkraut und getrockneten Hagebutten sowie feiner Adstringenz. Ein Wein mit viel Substanz, der Zeit und Ruhe brau-chen wird, um seine angedeutete Tiefe zu entwickeln, aber mit klarer Tendenz nach ben.     

Jean-Marc QUARIN

18

byJean-Marc Quarinthe4/17/2018

Wine Enthusiast

96-98

byRoger Vossthe4/17/2018

The classic iron fist in a velvet glove, this wine has both significant fruit and immense tannins. It is rich and juicy, packed with firm structure and a wonderful concentrated richness. There is power here, but also prodigious fruit. Drink after 2026.

Jamessuckling.com

98-99

byJames Sucklingthe4/6/2018

This is very dense and tight with a super center palate of dark fruit with blackberries and currants. Full-bodied, so precise and focused. Great length and depth. Superb. Classic great Bordeaux. Wow. Pure cabernet sauvignon.