Wine Advisor
Latour Martillac, Blanc 2015
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Description
The best lots from the best parcels are chosen each year to integrate into the blending of the first wines for both red and white wines. This stringent selection is driven by the direction of Loic Kressmann and our winemaker, Valerie Vialard, with the help of one of the most renowned consultants in Bordeaux, Professor Denis Dubourdieu.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The Latour Martillac 2015 Blanc opens with fresh straw, preserved lemons, kumquat and peach kernel notes. The medium-bodied mouth is fine and intense with a lively backbone and fruity finish.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 La Tour Martillac has a gorgeous, complex nose, subtle pear and green apple scents, a whiff of the old sea spray coming in from the Atlantic. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, very complex in the mouth with lip-smacking salinity towards the finish. What a fabulous white Bordeaux from the estate, certainly one of the best that I have ever encountered.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The Latour Martillac 2015 Blanc has a very satisfying bouquet with fresh green apple, white peach and orange blossom, all very nicely integrated with the oak. The palate feels crisp and energetic, very linear and taut at the moment but with an impressive, mineral-driven, almost Chenin-like finish with traces of fennel and sunflower seed. This is a superb white Pessac-Léognan that should age with style.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The Latour Martillac 2015 Blanc opens with fresh straw, preserved lemons, kumquat and peach kernel notes. The medium-bodied mouth is fine and intense with a lively backbone and fruity finish.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Power and aromatic intensity are two of the signatures of the 2015 Latour-Martillac Blanc. The citrus peel, almond and floral notes are finely sketched, but it is really the wine's bouquet that gives the 2015 its distinctive personality and pedigree. There is plenty to admire here.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 Latour-Martillac Blanc has a much more convincing bouquet than its peers, offering well-defined peach skin, dried honey and apple blossom aromas. The focused, mineral-driven palate is well balanced with a crisp line of acidity and just the right amount of bitterness on the grapefruit-tinged finish. Excellent. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.
About the Producer
A small fortified castle from the 12th century existed until the French Revolution, leaving only behind the tower that gives the estate its name. Viticulture first began in the 19th century when the land was attached to the estate of Château La Brède, birthplace of Montesquieu. Under the ownership of Monsieur Charropin, the estate took the identity of Latour-Martillac, but the wine it produced was not noted as remarkable until the involvement of Edward Kressmann. A German wine trader, he became gradually more involved in the vinification from when he first began distributing Latour-Martillac, until he acquired the estate in 1929. Following the death of the owner, Kressmann faced the risk of losing a wine that had been a favourite of his clients for generations, and bought it outright. Already in 1884, Edward Kressmann had planted white grape varieties, and in 1892 launched their wine Graves Monopole Dry which was successful. The estate was eventually passed onto Alfred Kressmann, followed by his son, Jean, in charge since 1940 but inheriting the estate in 1955, who acquired adjacent land expanding the vineyard area to 30 hectares. Currently the estate is under the management of the following generation of the Kressmann family, the brothers Tristan and Loïc, working with the consultants Denis Dubourdieu from 1986 and Michel Rolland between 1989 and 2005. The vineyard area extends 42 hectares (100 acres), of which 33 ha (82 acres) are dedicated the red wine varieties, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 5% Petit verdot, and 9 ha (22 acres) for white wine production of the varieties 55% Sémillon, 40% Sauvignon blanc, and 5% Muscadelle. The annual production averages 20,000 cases of the red Grand Vin and 11,000 of the dry white. Of the second wine Lagrave Martillac made from the estate's youngest vines, there are produced 4,000 cases of red and 2,000 cases of dry white.
