Château Latour 2014 received 99 points from James Suckling, 97 points each from Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator, 97 points from Wine Enthusiast and 96 points from Decanter, establishing it as one of the finest classical Latour vintages of the past twenty years and a wine of exceptional structural depth and ageing ambition. The 2014 Bordeaux vintage is one that has consistently rewarded those who waited: initially assessed as a vintage of classical precision rather than opulent power, subsequent tastings have confirmed that the 2014 Latour, in particular, has developed exactly as the estate’s winemaking team predicted: a wine of extraordinary mineral freshness, pure Cabernet Sauvignon aromatic character and the formidable structural depth that only the Latour Grand Enclos’ combination of deep gravel and clay soils adjacent to the Gironde can provide. Wine Advocate noted that “the 2014 will go down as one of this chateau’s great wines of the modern era.”

The estate’s decision to release the 2014 outside the en primeur system, holding the wine until the team considered it at optimal drinking maturity, ensures that this wine arrives in the market with a degree of development and integration that the standard six to twelve-month post-harvest release cannot provide. At approximately ten years from harvest and now being made available by the estate, the 2014 Latour should be showing the beginning of its potential secondary development: the primary Cabernet Sauvignon fruit gradually yielding to the complex mineral, tobacco and cedar secondary characters that define great Latour at its first stage of maturity, while the wine’s fundamental structural depth remains entirely intact for a further two to three decades of development. The two OWC formats, three and six bottles respectively, provide flexibility for both immediate opening and longer-term cellaring across the same authorised case.

The 2014 Château Latour, at five-publication critical consensus of 96-99 points and released by the estate at maturity under its innovative non-en primeur policy, is among the most important and well-documented first-growth Pauillac acquisitions of its vintage currently available on the open market.

Deep ruby with a precise and layered nose of blackcurrant, cedar, graphite, dried herbs, iron mineral, tobacco and the characteristic mineral density of the Latour Grand Enclos on deep gravel. Full-bodied with structured, classical tannins now beginning to soften, excellent natural acidity and a very long, mineral, profound finish. Best from 2025 through 2055.

This first growth seems to be heading into the legendary status category. A wine of remarkable classical structure with aromas of pencil shavings, graphite, blackberries, currants and bay leaf. Full-bodied yet so polished, precise and supple. What length and persistence. — James Suckling