Les Forts de Latour, Pauillac 2009

The deep garnet colored 2009 Les Forts de Latour springs forth with minted chocolate, blackberry pie, sweaty leather and cast iron pan notes with hints of bay leaves and unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied and laden with muscular black fruit preserves and savory layers, it has a firm, grainy frame and lovely freshness, finishing with a minty kick.

The 2009 Les Forts de Latour has a very classy bouquet with finely tuned, almost understated black fruit laced with tobacco and cedar at first, then it blossoms with aeration and reveals quite stupendous precision. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin. This is extremely balanced and precise with more depth and persistent than the 2009 Le Petit Mouton tasted alongside. Deeply impressive. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits' Ten Year On tasting.

Possibly the best second wine ever made at Latour and I love how the 1982 is drinking at age 30), the 2009 Les Forts de Latour is composed of two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot blended with a tiny dollop of Petit Verdot, and finished at 13.5% alcohol. Juicy notes of creme de cassis, licorice, camphor, smoke and crushed rocks are followed by a rich, unctuously textured, thick, juicy, exceptionally pure, long wine. This beauty will be at its finest in several years and should keep for three decades.

Proprietor Francois Pinault and his director, Frederic Engerer, have pulled out all the stops to produce one of the most monumental Latour’s ever made.
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Perhaps the finest example ever made including the extraordinary 1982) of Les Forts de Latour, the 2009 61.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32.3% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot) is nearly as potent as the Pauillac at 13.5% alcohol. An opaque purple color is followed by notes of black fruits, crushed rocks, spring flowers, and hints of blackberries and smoke. Prodigiously rich and thick with an amazingly long finish of 50 seconds, this astonishing second wine will undoubtedly put on weight before bottling, and should last for 25-30 years.
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Violet and mineral, with hints of blackberry and blueberry on the nose. Full-bodied, with superreserved and refined tannins, yet dense and very impressive. Long and racy. Lasts for minutes. Second wine of Latour.

The 2009 Les Forts de Latour shows the richness of the vintage in its dark, slightly roasted flavors. Ample and sumptuous in the glass, the 2009 drinks well now, but it also gives the impression of limited upside, so I would not hang on to it for more than a handful of years. Mocha, espresso, dark fruit and spices add to a feeling of weight and power.

Ruby-red. Pungently fragrant aromas of blackcurrant and cedar complicated by quinine and bay leaf. Rich, dense and suave, with rather brooding flavors of blackberry, plum liqueur, aromatic herbs and forest floor. This has shut down since the Primeurs and will need patience. Lacks only the generosity of the grand vin but should be outstanding. And it's a remarkable second wine.

(65% cabernet sauvignon, 32% merlot, 2% petit verdot and 1% cabernet franc; 13.5% alcohol; 80 IPT; roughly 46% of the total crop) Ruby purple. Perfumed aromas of blackcurrant, sweet plum, milk chocolate and toasty oak are very forward and bright. Sweet and quite rich on entry, this pliant wine has barely noticeable tannins supporting sweet, ripe red cherry and plum flavors. Finishes velvety and long. This is one of the most flattering and charming versions of Les Forts de Latour I can recall. Readers take note that Latour's third wine, simply labelled Pauillac, is also very successful in '09.