Château Latour, 2019

"The 2019 Latour is deep garnet in color. It rockets out of the glass with powerful notes of boysenberry preserves, juicy plums, and crème de cassis, followed by hints of dark chocolate, licorice, tar, and crushed rocks. The medium to full bodied palate is rich with juicy black fruit layers, supported by velvety tannins and bold freshness, f inishing epically long and flamboyantly spicy. "

"Dark blackcurrants with smokey tobacco, liquorice and slate. Cool straight away, fresh but so perfectly mouthfilling, not sweet like 2020, this is more cooling and fresh, blue fruit, black cherry, fleshy like fruit skin texture. Dark, I love the 2019s because they're more controlled and serious but so nuanced. To me this is how a great Pauillac can taste, serious, deep, classic Cabernet markers, lots of minerality in the flint and stoney aspects, strong tannins and a powerful, muscular structure with minty sides. An amazing Pauillac, this is really my style. Still so full of concentration and life, this will last forever."

"Classic Pauillac darker currants, smoky tobacco, spicy wood, damp earth, and graphite all define the 2019 Château Latour, a ripe and approachable Latour that has more accessibility than many vintages while still possessing quintessential Latour character and depth. Blended from 92.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot and aged 18 months in new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied with a round, layered mouthfeel, beautiful, almost velvety tannins, and a tremendous finish. I'd happily drink a bottle today (don't tell anyone), yet it's going to benefit from 5-7 years of bottle age and keep for 50 years or more in fine form."

"The 2019 Latour is a profound wine in the making, and it will surely emerge as one of the most long-lived wines of the vintage, as well as one of the greatest. Unwinding in the glass with scents of rich cassis fruit, English walnuts, cigar wrapper, black truffle, loamy soil and violets, it’s full-bodied, layered and muscular, with huge depth at the core, ripe tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, seemingly interminable finish. Checking in at 14.1% alcohol, this prodigious Latour will require two decades to hit its stride, but it will be more than worth the wait."