1998 | Chteau Latour | Pauillac

Description

Red Wine: 1998 | Chteau Latour | Pauillac

Dark purple with pink rim. Intense. Nose closed. Very elegant palate of cassis and blackcurrant. Very smooth. Good complexity.

Order from the Largest & Most Trusted Premium Spirits Marketplace!

Featured in

• ROLLING STONE
• MEN’S JOURNAL
• US WEEKLY

NOTICE: Many other small liquor store sites may end up cancelling your order due to the high demand, unavailability or inaccurate inventory counts. We have partnerships consisting of a large network of licensed retailers from within the United States, Europe and across the world ensuring orders are fulfilled.

Producer: Chteau Latour

Ratings: D | 96 JL | 92

Vintage: 1998

Size: 750ml

ABV: 13%

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

Country/Region: France, Pauillac

Dark purple with pink rim. Intense. Nose closed. Very elegant palate of cassis and blackcurrant. Very smooth. Good complexity.

Reviews:

• Decanter: As with many of the wines from 1998 that I have tasted recently, the Latour was surprisingly open and approachable. Today the wine has a smoky, almost roasted nose with black plum and fig fruit, hints of smoke, leather, and an undercurrent of ground coffee. The texture is surprisingly open and soft but not falling apart. It is drinking well today and doubtless will hold for another 10 to 15 years but is probably not one for long-term ageing. The spring and the growing season were hot and dry, and although there was rain at harvest the grapes were able to resist rot and dilution due to their thick skins.

• Jeff Leve: Medium/full bodied, better on the nose, with its tobacco, blackberry, cassis, spice box, tobacco, cedar chest and oceanic nose, than on the palate, as it lacks the generosity, depth and breed found in the best vintages. Still, there is a classy air to the character, and the ability for further development, which might turn out a little bit better with another decade in the cellar.

Producer Information

Chteau Latour is one of Bordeaux’s and the world’s most famous wine producers. It is situated in the southeast corner of the Pauillac commune on the border of Saint-Julien, in the Mdoc region. Rated as a First Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification, it has become one of the most sought-after and expensive wine producers on the planet, and produces powerfully structured Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wines capable of lasting many decades. The site has been occupied since 1331, with a fort and garrison to guard the estuary. Several smallholdings began to grow vines, and wine from the site gained recognition from Montaigne as early as the 16th Century. The original tower no longer exists; the famous tower featured on the label was designed as a pigeon roost and built around 1620. Latour’s development as a single property came with the beginning of a long unbroken period of connected family ownership, based around the de Sgur name, also associated with Mouton and Calon-Sgur. This began in 1670 and lasted 290 years although, after the French Revolution, Latour was divided up and not fully reunited until 1841. The chteau has been owned by French billionaire Franois Pinault since 1993 and falls under the umbrella of his holding company, Groupe Artemis. Other notable Artemis possessions include the likes of Burgundy’s Le Clos de Tart (in Morey-Saint-Denis) and Domaine d’Eugnie (in Vosne-Romane), Chteau-Grillet in Condrieu, and Napa Valley’s Araujo Estate. The Latour estate courted controversy in 2012 when it announced through long-time director Frdric Engerer that it would no longer take part in Bordeaux’s En Primeur pre-release sales campaign (an annual installment for nearly all the major names in the region). Since 2012, the estate has shown no signs of going back on this decision.