As we continue to expand our Bordeaux futures program, we are incredibly excited to offer the new releases from one the best wineries anywhere in the world: the esteemed Château Latour.
Rather than release its wines annually en primeur like the other chateaux of Bordeaux, Latour made the decision back in 2011 to bring its wines to market only when deemed ready by head winemaker Frédéric Engerer. As a result, while other top estates are releasing their 2019 and 2020 as futures, Château Latour is only now releasing its 2014 vintage, along with the 2016 vintage for its second wine: Les Forts de Latour.
I was lucky enough to have lunch with Engerer while visiting Latour back in 2016, and he explained that the decision was based on the increasing consumption of long-lived wines before they're ready to drink. Château Latour is a wine that can live for decades before it reaches its peak, so to witness consumers opening young bottles in their infancy was doing a disservice to the brand. As he states in an interview with Decanter: "We sell wines way too young and it doesn’t have to be this way. Consider other wines like vintage Champagne, no one thinks it is abnormal for a Champagne house to keep wines for many years and only release them when they are ready."
While Engerer has approved the limited release of these two vintages, both will need at least another 10+ years of cellar time before they show their true form. During that above mentioned lunch, Engerer brought four bottles of Latour and Les Forts each and made us taste them blind. People were guessing 1982, 1988, and 1990: the best vintages of the last forty years. As it turns out, Engerer brought wines from the four worst vintages of the 1970s (see the above photo I still keep on my iPhone). His point was to showcase how Château Latour from any vintage has the inherent potential of a masterpiece.
Leaving the restaurant that day, there was no doubt in my mind moving forward that Château Latour is one of the best wines in the world—if not the best. We were fortunate enough to get a few cases of the latest Château Latour releases, and we're hoping they find a good home. If the worst vintages of the 1970s fooled a table of experts, I can only imagine what these great vintages will taste like down the line.
-David Driscoll, Mission Sales Manager