2013 Château Latour, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
It is ideal with a one-hour carafe.
One of the successes of the vintage, with well-hewn tannins and grip. There are plenty of markers of a cool vintage here in the raspberry, redcurrant, cassis bud and cherry pit flavours, set alongside waves of smoked tea and tomato leaf. One to look out. First-year for Hélène Génin as technical director. Only 31% of the production made it into the first wine, meaning 6,000 cases, with almost all of it coming from the 24ha in L'Enclos that were being farmed biodynamically at the time.
Drink 2023 - 2036
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (February 2022)
The 2013 Latour has quite an austere nose, backward and slightly surly. Light and tertiary black fruit mix with cigar humidor and autumn leaf scents. The palate is better with a gentle grip, fine acidity and decent balance. You do wish for more fruit on the finish, though there is a greater density on the finish compared with the Lafite-Rothschild. Fine.
Drink 2023 - 2033
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (August 2023)
The 2013 Latour is absolutely gorgeous. Of course, the 2013 is lighter in body than the norm here, but striking aromatics and silky tannins more than make up for that. A wine of total breed and class, the 2013 is a real pleasure to taste today. Naturally, the lighter structure of the year is impossible to escape. Even so, at eight years of age, the 2013 is just starting to show the first signs of aromatic nuance, and yet it remains a young wine.
The spread of botrytis led to an early harvest, with the exception to some blocks on the western side of the enclos that were more resistant to conditions and were therefore picked later. This is a remarkable showing considering a little more than 2/3rds of the vineyards (for the Grand Vin) were farmed biodynamically back then. I can't wait to see how the 2013 ages. My opened bottle stayed fresh for a number of days.
Drink 2021 - 2033
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (March 2021)
95.3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.3% Merlot and 0.4% Petit Verdot; 31.5% of the total production went into the Grand Vin.
Deep ruby. Fresh aromas of blackcurrant are complicated by loam, flint, and violet, and a strong oak element somewhat camouflage them. Then, it is smooth and balanced on the palate, with good density and a hint of iron in the fresh dark berry and graphite flavours. Finishes long, with polished tannins. It's one of the lighter-styled Latours I've tasted to date but a very successful wine for the year, as it has none of the rigid tannins of many other Bordeaux wines in 2013.
Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com (May 2014)
Blackish crimson. Latour's second vintage outside the en-primeur system. The nose is quite intense for a 2013, though it may suffer for being tasted next to the more ethereal Lafite 2013. It is dense and arguably a little stodgy. It may come right eventually, but it's just The Incredible Hulk at the moment.
Drink 2025 - 2040
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2023)
Composed of 95.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.4% Merlot and 0.4% Petit Verdot, the 2013 Latour offers an open-knit, fragrant nose of liquorice, sandalwood, rose petals and cigar box over a core of Black Forest cake, stewed plums, mulberries and redcurrant jelly, plus a waft of a cast-iron pan. The elegantly styled, medium-bodied palate (13% alcohol) fills the mouth with intense red and black berry preserves layers, framed by evolved, soft-textured tannins and well-knit freshness, finishing long and spicy.
This vintage does not have the power and backbone of an outstanding vintage of Latour, but it is ageing gracefully and still possesses a lot of discernible fruit with plenty of tertiary pizazz, which is absolutely delicious to drink right now. This sweet-spot stage is likely to continue for another 5-7 years before the wine plateaus at a maturity peak and holds for a further 15+ years.
Drink 2021 - 2041
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (March 2021)
Very enticing sweet tobacco, cedar, tar and blackcurrant on the nose with hints of black mushrooms and violets. It’s full-bodied with layers of ripe tannins that are still slightly chewy but show poise and focus. It has a juicy finish with a berry, iodine and walnut aftertaste—just a touch of austerity at the end. Savoury. Clearly, it is one of the top wines of this very difficult vintage, along with Margaux and Lafleur.
Drinkable now, but better in 2024
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (May 2021)
My Left Bank wine of the vintage. Superb cassis fruit from 89.9% Cabernet Sauvignon, yet almost understated for Latour. With wonderful ripe texture and chalky tannins, the 'Latour soil' shows more of the 'Latour style' of the past. Pure Cabernet over pure gravel, beautifully expressed.
Drink 2022 - 2050
Steven Spurrier, Decanter.com
The flagship 2013 Chateau Latour comes from a much more challenging vintage and is 95.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.4% Merlot, and 0.4% Petit Verdot. It shows its more Cabernet-dominated blend with a more compact, tight, reserved style that opens up nicely with time in the glass. Revealing a healthy ruby/plum colour, it has classic Latour notes of blackcurrants, freshly sharpened pencils, smoked tobacco, crushed stone, and liquorice.
It doesn't have the depth, richness, or expansiveness to be considered a great Latour but is medium-bodied, has a focused, elegant texture, ripe, silky tannins, and a narrow yet lengthy finish. Given the difficulties in the year, this is certainly a success as the purity of fruit is spot on, the tannins are sweet and polished, and it has plenty of classic Latour character. It should drink nicely over the coming 10-15 years and gradually decline.
Drink 2021 - 2036
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2021)
About this WINE
Château Latour
Château Latour is a wine estate in Pauillac, part of the Haut-Medoc sub-region on the Left Bank of Bordeaux. The estate’s history dates back to at least the 14th century, though vineyards were not established here until the 17th century. The estate is located at the southern edge of the Pauillac appellation, bordering the St Julien vineyards of Château Léoville Las Cases. Latour is one of the five First Growths of the 1855 classification, occupying the top tier alongside Châteaux Lafite Rothschild, Margaux, Haut-Brion, and Mouton Rothschild.
Latour is owned by François Pinault, one of France’s wealthiest people. It forms the jewel in the crown of Pinault’s Artémis Domaines, itself part of the larger Groupe Artémis. Other wineries within the portfolio include Clos de Tart and Domaine d’Eugénie in Burgundy; Château Grillet in the Rhône Valley; Champagne Jacquesson; Eisele Vineyard in California’s Napa Valley; and Maisons et Domaines Henriot, which includes holdings in Champagne, Burgundy, and Oregon.
The day-to-day running of Latour is entrusted to the dynamic Frédéric Engerer. Under his stewardship, a major programme of investment has taken place. In 2012, Latour announced that it would no longer offer its wines as part of the Bordeaux En Primeur campaign. Instead, the wines are kept at the estate until such a time as they are ready to be opened and enjoyed. They are then offered through the La Place de Bordeaux distribution system several years after the vintage.
There are three wines produced here. Château Latour, the grand vin, is produced from vines immediately surrounding the château, from the vineyard area known as L’Enclos. Les Forts de Latour, the second wine, was created in 1966. It is now regarded as a great wine in its own right, certainly worthy of Classified Growth status. A third wine, Pauillac de Latour, is usually the product of young vines.
The vineyard is planted to a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon, along with some Merlot and small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Pauillac
Pauillac is the aristocrat of the Médoc boasting boasting 75 percent of the region’s First Growths and with Grand Cru Classés representing 84 percent of Pauillac's production.
For a small town, surrounded by so many familiar and regal names, Pauillac imparts a slightly seedy impression. There are no grand hotels or restaurants – with the honourable exception of the establishments owned by Jean-Michel Cazes – rather a small port and yacht harbour, and a dominant petrochemical plant.
Yet outside the town, , there is arguably the greatest concentration of fabulous vineyards throughout all Bordeaux, including three of the five First Growths. Bordering St Estèphe to the north and St Julien to the south, Pauillac has fine, deep gravel soils with important iron and marl deposits, and a subtle, softly-rolling landscape, cut by a series of small streams running into the Gironde. The vineyards are located on two gravel-rich plateaux, one to the northwest of the town of Pauillac and the other to the south, with the vines reaching a greater depth than anywhere else in the Médoc.
Pauillac's first growths each have their own unique characteristics; Lafite Rothschild, tucked in the northern part of Pauillac on the St Estèphe border, produces Pauillac's most aromatically complex and subtly-flavoured wine. Mouton Rothschild's vineyards lie on a well-drained gravel ridge and - with its high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon - can produce (in its best years) Pauillac's most decadently rich, fleshy and exotic wine.
Latour, arguably Bordeaux's most consistent First Growth, is located in southern Pauillac next to St Julien. Its soil is gravel-rich with superb drainage, and Latour's vines penetrate as far as five metres into the soil. It produces perhaps the most long-lived wines of the Médoc.
Recommended Châteaux
Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, Ch. Latour, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron, Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Ch. Lynch-Bages, Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ch, Pontet-Canet, Les Forts de Latour, Ch. Haut-Batailley, Ch. Batailley, Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral.
Cabernet Sauvignon blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
Buying options
Add to wishlist
Description
It is ideal with a one-hour carafe.
One of the successes of the vintage, with well-hewn tannins and grip. There are plenty of markers of a cool vintage here in the raspberry, redcurrant, cassis bud and cherry pit flavours, set alongside waves of smoked tea and tomato leaf. One to look out. First-year for Hélène Génin as technical director. Only 31% of the production made it into the first wine, meaning 6,000 cases, with almost all of it coming from the 24ha in L'Enclos that were being farmed biodynamically at the time.
Drink 2023 - 2036
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (February 2022)
wine at a glance
Delivery and quality guarantee