2020 Château Latour-Martillac, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

2020 Château Latour-Martillac, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Product: 20201012332
Prices start from £135.00 per case Buying options
2020 Château Latour-Martillac, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Availability
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6 x 75cl bottle
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Description

Cabernet Sauvignon 60%, Merlot 30%, Petit Verdot 10%

The Kressmann family are fourth-generation owners here. The estate has deep gravels over limestone. The land on the Martillac plateau is planted to red varieties; the clay/limestone sections are for the excellent white wine. This vintage is the first in the property’s new cellar and vat room. The estate’s reputation is for delicious, approachable but satisfying reds, with excellent definition from their high-quality gravel soils. The 2020 is exactly that: generous, with notes of lead pencil and a calm, savoury line of very attractive fruit.

Drink 2025-2035

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Critics reviews

Neal Martin, Vinous93-95/100
The 2020 Latour-Martillac offers an enticing bouquet of black fruit infused with black olive, background citric scents lending a bit of zest. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, well-integrated oak and impressive depth. This is a very assured and confident Latour-Martillac that continues their strong run of form. Perhaps one of the dark horses of the appellation in 2020, this should be on your primeur shopping list.

Drink from 2027 to 2055

Neal Martin, Vinous (May 2021) Read more
Antonio Galloni, Vinous90-92/100
The 2020 Latour-Martillac is a potent, brooding wine. Graphite, crushed rocks, game, scorched earth, menthol, lavender and chocolate are all kicked up in this searingly intense Pessac-Léognan. It will be interesting to see if the 2020 softens at all. Today, it is pretty tight, and yet there is quite a bit of potential.

Drink from 2026 to 2040

Antonio Galloni, Vinous (June 2021) Read more
Jane Anson94/100
Chocolate, liquorice, some bitter points that accompany the fruit from beginning to end, this is one of the best in terms of focus and precision. There is clearly excellent colour extraction, you get real glass-staining purple, but the flavours are more austere and tannic than the colour might suggest. Well chosen coffee and chocolate expression that remains elegant and pointed. Good stuff, needs time, but will grow into a classic elegant wine. A yield of 38hl/ha.

Drink from 2025 to 2040

Jane Anson, Decanter (April 2021) Read more
Wine Advocate92-94/100
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Latour à Pomerol rolls out of the glass with intense notes of fresh blackberries, Morello cherries and boysenberries, followed by suggestions of iron ore, wild sage, unsmoked cigars and pencil shavings. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers a great concentration of taut, muscular red and black fruits with a firm, grainy frame and just enough freshness, finishing on a lingering ferrous note.

Drink from 2024 to 2044

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (May 2021) Read more
Jancis Robinson MW16/20
Undated cask sample. 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot. Dark purple. Notably well-integrated nose. Sweet purple fruits on the palate entry and more than a hint of oak overlay. Quite chewy on the end. Tannins and fruit very separate at the moment. I wouldn't have minded a little more freshness of fruit. A little dry and chunky on the slightly sudden finish.

Drink 2027 - 2043

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (April 2021) Read more
James Suckling93-94/100
This really builds on the palate with blackberry, blueberry and stone aromas and flavours. Medium to full body. Creamy finish.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (April 2021) Read more

About this WINE

Chateau Latour-Martillac

Chateau Latour-Martillac

La Tour Martillac has been owned and managed by the Kressmann family since the late 19th century and now under the stewardship of Tristan and Loïc Kressmann.

The tower that gives its name to this estate is all that remains of the 12th century fortification. The reds are typically a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (59%), Merlot (35%) and Malbec (6%). The whites are produced from Semillon (60%), Sauvignon Blanc (35%) and Muscasdelle (5%)

The wines have continued to improve in quality with the aid of some top Bordeaux consultants. Famously the gold and black label dates back to 1929, designed specifically for a bottle served in 1936 for the coronation of George Vl.

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Pessac-Leognan

Pessac-Leognan

In 1986 a new communal district was created within Graves, in Bordeaux,  based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city. Essentially this came about through pressure from Pessac-Léognan vignerons, who wished to disassociate themselves from growers with predominately sandy soils further south in Graves.

Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the classed growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux's southern urban sprawl.

The climate is milder than to the north of the city and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a heady, rich and almost savoury character, laced with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruity and suitable for earlier drinking.

Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Haut-Brion, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, Ch. Pape Clément, Ch Haut-Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Ch. Larrivet-Haut-Brion, Ch. Carmes Haut-Brion, Ch. La Garde, Villa Bel-Air.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

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.

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