Chateau Latour 1990

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The nose is quite perplexing at first, perhaps because one notices how decayed the fruit is. But the secondary characteristics that gradually show their faces more than compensate: leather, dried herbs, pencil box and hot roof tiles. Opens beautifully with time, developing a scent of wild mint after 30 minutes. The palate is full-bodied, firm tannins, powerful but decaying black fruits with leather, graphite and tobacco. A “burly” but affable Latour that embraces some Pomerol characteristics, but suffuses them subtly rather than allowing them to dominate. Gorgeous. Drink now-2025+ Tasted June 2009.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

The phenomenally concentrated, highly extracted 1990 exhibits a tight but highly promising bouquet of minerals, roasted nuts, and super-ripe, rich cassis fruit. It is an exceptionally powerful wine, with massive intensity, plenty of glycerin, as well as extraordinary extract and mouth-searing tannins. An explosively rich Latour, it may develop along the lines of the 1970. Along with Montrose, Margaux, and Petrus, Latour is a strong favorite for the wine of the vintage! A triumph! Anticipated maturity: 2000-2035. Last tasted, 8/93.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

This is a beauty, but not the awesome blockbuster I remembered. There is a roasted, earthy, hot year character with extremely low acidity, fleshy, seductive, opulently-textured flavors, and a full-bodied finish with considerable amounts of glycerin and tannin. The wine was sweet, accessible, and seductive on the attack, but it closed down in the mouth. Interestingly, when I previously tasted this wine (about six months ago) from a bottle in my cellar, I found it to be impenetrable, needing at least 6-10 years of further cellaring. Based on this example from the Chateau's cellar, it could be drunk now. In any event, it will last 25-30 years, but is it the immortal classic many observers, including myself, thought it was? Anticipated maturity: 2005-2030.

robert_parker95

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

This is one of the more perplexing Latours to evaluate. It has plenty of sweetness as well as a gorgeous, rich fruitiness, but it lacks the firmness one finds in more recent great vintages such as 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008. There is plenty of sweet, ripe currant fruitiness, abundant glycerin, and full body, but I’m still waiting for that extra nuance of complexity to emerge. It’s all there, but the wine still seems to be more monolithic than one would expect in a wine approaching 19 years of age. It is not the sure-fire winner I thought it was in its youth, but then again, I don’t have any reason to doubt that more complexity will emerge. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2035. Release price: ($1500.00/case)

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Unquestionably the 1990 is the finest, most archetypical Latour since the 1982 and 1970. This monumental wine signals a return to the more forceful, opaquely colored, powerful, brute-like strength style for which Latour was famous during most of this century. The flirtation, intentional or otherwise, with a lighter style of wine is not apparent in this blockbuster. The 1990 exhibits tight but highly promising aromas of minerals, roasted nuts, and super-ripe, rich cassis fruit. It is an exceptionally powerful wine, with massive intensity, plenty of glycerin, as well as extraordinary extract and mouth-searing tannins that explode on the palate. Along with Margaux and Petrus, Latour is a strong favorite for the wine of the vintage! A triumph! Anticipated maturity: 2000-2035.

robert_parker94

Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Deep garnet-brick colored, the 1990 Latour displays mature sandalwood, leather and cigar box hints over dried berries and kirsch. The palate is evolved, offering a wonderfully spicy richness coupled by powdery tannins and finishing long and savory.

robert_parker100

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

Tasted several times, shining at the 1990 horizontal when first encountered in March 2000. Next at the Farr 89 v 90 in September 2004, a perfect bottle. A very dense, powerful nose of black fruit, graphite, cedar and pencil-lead. A beautiful palate with superb concentration and acidity. A mass of ripe black fruit but with a freshness that cuts through everything. Focused, harmonious with seamless tannins. This will needs a few years to show its strength, but what distinguishes this wine is the persistency, the grip, the refusal of the taste to leave the palate. Awesome. Then in December 2004 where it was "Opulent yet regal and refined." At the Latour/Petrus vertical in November 2005. Certainly some maturity on the rim: thin brick colour. A stunning nose: liquorice, freshly ground coffee a little chestnut. Very intense and concentrated. Very dense tannins with a very sweet, Pomerol-like, raisined mid-palate. An extrovert wine, flamboyant but utterly enjoyable with masses of potential.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Neither the 1989 or 1990 wines has budged in quality or development since I first tasted them in cask. There is no doubting the 1990 Latour is a potential candidate for the wine of the vintage. Remarkably youthful, with a deep purple color, and full-bodied, powerful, massive richness, everything is held together by high levels of tannin. Fortunately, the tannin is sweet and ripe, making evaluation easy. The finish, which lasts for 35-40 seconds, reveals layers of flavor as well as impressive purity. This backward 1990 requires another 7-10 of cellaring. It is a wine for drinking between 2005-2035. At a subsequent blind tasting, I had the 1990 side by side with the 1982 Latour. The 1982 was even more concentrated and layered than the 1990!

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Tasted 6 Times Since Bottling With Consistent Notes Unquestionably the 1990 is the finest, most archetypical Latour since the 1982 and 1970. This monumental wine signals a return to the more forceful, opaquely colored, powerful, brute-like strength style for which Latour was famous during most of this century. The flirtation, intentional or otherwise, with a lighter style of wine is not apparent in this blockbuster. The 1990 exhibits tight but highly promising aromas of minerals, roasted nuts, and super-ripe, rich cassis fruit. It is an exceptionally powerful wine, with massive intensity, plenty of glycerin, as well as extraordinary extract and mouth-searing tannins that explode on the palate. Along with Margaux and Petrus, Latour is a strong favorite for the wine of the vintage! A triumph! Anticipated maturity: 2000-2035.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

Tasted blind at The Arches. Poured from magnum, the 1990 Latour is a tour de force. It displays immense purity and precision on the nose with graphite and tobacco scents, a hint of dried rose petal and mahogany bureau developing with time. The palate is surprisingly backwards considering that it is already over two decades old. It is underpinned with very well judged acidity that lends it poise and grace. But the headline is simple the unadulterated, astounding exhibition of Cabernet Sauvignon that drives the 1990 forward to its intense crushed stone finish where you can almost taste those Pauillac pebbles. Although I have encountered a couple of mis-firing bottles, this is the real deal. Tasted February 2012.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Unquestionably the 1990 is the finest, most archetypal Latour since 1982. In fact, the 1990 signals a return to the more forceful, opaquely colored, powerful, brute-like strength style for which Latour was famous during most of this century. The flirtation, intentional or otherwise, with a lighter style (still foolishly denied by the administration) that was evident between 1983 and 1989, has apparently been reversed. The 1990 exhibits tight but highly promising aromas of minerals, roasted nuts, and super-ripe, rich cassis fruit. In the mouth, there is a powerful intensity, plenty of glycerin, as well as high extract and mouth-searing tannins. This is potentially the wine of the vintage. A triumph! Anticipated maturity: 2000-2025.