Wine Advisor
Pauillac de Latour 2012
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Description
This wine has been made every year since 1989, and was developed primarily for the restaurant market. The Pauillac is made primarily from young vines, growing on the less prestigious terroirs in the vineyard, and from wines that do not meet the selection criteria for Forts de Latour (specific to each vintage). About 20% new barrels are used in the vinification of the Pauillac, the precise proportion varying depending on the characteristics of the vintage. The blend for Château Latour’s Pauillac typically consists of nearly 45% Merlot. This generous, fruity wine is an excellent introduction to the family of wines produced by Château Latour. It can be enjoyed after four to five years of ageing, and will continue to improve for several more years.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Frédéric Engerer thought the 2012 Latour had entered a period of post-bottling dormancy when I stopped by, so he chose to show a few older vintages instead, including the superb 2001 Latour. We will add those notes on a future update of the database.
Reviewed by: Ian d'Agata
(90% cabernet sauvignon, and 10% merlot; 73 IPT; 12.8% alcohol; 36% of the total crop): Dark ruby. Perfumed nose of blackcurrant, violet, ink and flint. Bright acids and very smooth tannins nicely frame and support the blackcurrant and cedar flavors. Finishes long and suave, with a lingering graphite note. This sample actually contained 0.2% petit verdot. I didn't find any of the green notes that plague many Left Bank wines in this vintage.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2012 Latour has a delineated bouquet, understated at first, gravel and cedar percolating through the black fruit. Charming. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins, fine grip, wonderful acidity and with an endearing symmetry that persists through to the finish. Superb concentration, much more than Lafite-Rothschild by direct comparison, with a very persistent aftertaste. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2012 Latour has a potent bouquet of blackberry, graphite and distinctive tertiary notes [instead of more marine scents observed four years earlier]. Initially, the palate is slightly disjointed on the entry and displays a subtle herbal quality, plus hints of pencil shavings. The 2012 demands a few minutes to really coalesce and achieve the precision and pixelation that have been the hallmark of this Grand Vin in its youth. Layers of black fruit coat the mouth, and a bitter edge lends tension, particularly toward the very persistent finish. Though its release implies, and the rhetoric from the château indicates, that it is ready to drink, if you want my advice, cellar the 2012 for another five or six years to witness it in full flight. It has always been a candidate for wine of the vintage... just have a bit of patience.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2012 Pauillac de Château Latour is in an ideal spot for drinking now. The dried cherry, tobacco, mint, licorice, smoke and game flavors are nicely pushed forward. Even so, the 2012 is starting to fray around the edges, and there is an element of gaminess that suggests some brett and gives the wine its obviously rustic personality. I would prefer to drink the 2012 sooner rather than later.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2012 Le Pauillac de Château Latour has a pleasant strictness on the well-defined bouquet with black fruit laced with fine mineralité for a third wine. The palate is medium-bodied with a juicy core of fruit, an almost pastille-like purity, smooth in the mouth with a caressing, quite rounded finish. It might have just put on a little weight since I last tasted it. Drink this now and over the next 7-10 years. Tasted March 2017.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Nice and fruity with fine tannins and a clean finish. Straightforward.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This is so delicious and wonderful now with fresh strawberries, peppermint and flowers. Medium body, fine tannins and a crisp finish. Elegant. You want to drink it now.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Lots of tobacco, berry and chocolate character with hints of mushrooms follows through to a medium body, firm and silky tannins and a juicy finish. Drink now.
About the Producer
Château Latour is located in the heart of the Médoc wine region, about 50 km north-west of Bordeaux, where the legend of the vineyards of Bordeaux began. The château's prime terroir, l’Enclos, overlooks the Gironde estuary: it is the river and the ocean that, over the centuries, have given the vineyard its geological complexity and, on a daily basis, ensure a mild climate. Château Latour’s superb location, just 300 metres from the estuary, gives it its special character and tempers any extreme weather conditions, especially spells of severe cold or frost, as for example in 1991. There are two factors that have a benign influence: • The proximity of the Atlantic, bringing the generosity of an ocean climate; • The immediate proximity of a large mass of water in the form of the estuary, protecting against possible cold spells early in the growth cycle and also enabling earlier ripening of the grapes, which can be an important factor as the harvests approach.
