The 2011 Chateau Latour holds a singular place in the modern history of this First Growth: it is the final vintage the estate released en primeur, having announced in April 2012 that all future Latour wines would be held until the estate’s technical team judged them ready to drink and released directly to market without futures involvement. The 2011 is thus both the last wine collectors could acquire from Latour through the traditional Bordeaux futures system and the first wine released under the new regime when the estate deemed it ready. This dual historical significance gives the 2011 a documentary importance beyond its considerable intrinsic quality.

The 2011 Bordeaux growing season was defined by difficult spring frost conditions followed by a warm and generally dry summer, producing wines of notable freshness and elegance rather than the sheer concentration of the decade’s finest vintages. The Grand Vin is a blend of 84.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 0.5% Petit Verdot, representing just 34% of the estate’s total crop, an extraordinary selection that underlines the rigour of the team’s quality demands even in a challenging year. James Suckling’s en primeur note described a wine of complex smoke, meat and currant aromas with “full body, super-velvety tannins” and “a spicy, subtly fruity finish.”

The 2011 Chateau Latour earned 97 points from Wine Enthusiast, 96 from Wine Spectator, 95 from both the Wine Advocate and James Suckling, a collection of scores that places it firmly within the serious tier of recent Latour vintages despite the relative challenge of the year. The OWC3 format, comprising three bottles in the original wooden case, provides both the provenance assurance and storage integrity that sophisticated collectors require for wines of this historical significance and financial profile.