Les Forts de Latour, Pauillac 2016

The 2016 Les Forts de Latour is the clear highlight among these new releases from Latour. The first thing that is evident about the 2016 is the pedigree of the vintage. Undisputedly great. Readers will find a potent, dark Forts de Latour endowed with massive concentration and tons of depth. The 2016 won't be ready to drink anytime soon, but it holds tons of promise. Hints of gravel, sage, licorice and pencil shavings linger. The 2016 was impressive a few years ago. It is even better today.

Drink 2026 - 2041

The fresh currant and violet aromas are so complex and beautiful on the nose. Full body, ultra-refined tannins and lovely tannin tension. Shows focus and such finesse. Beautiful finish. Try after 2024.

The winner of the best second wine in the vintage goes to Château Latour. Their 2016 Les Forts de Latour is a match for just about anything out there. It shares its bigger siblings stature and class, with a sensational perfume of cedarwood, black currants, graphite, and lead pencil. Seamless, ultra-pure, and medium to full-bodied, it too needs a good 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for 2-3 decades.

Drink 2024 - 2054

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Les Forts de Latour opens with cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise scents with hints of crème de cassis, kirsch, wild blueberries and hints of black tea and violets. Medium to full-bodied, it has very firm, grainy tannins and is wonderfully intense with layers of bright fruit and loads of red berry sparks, finishing long and minerally. This is a superb showing for Les Forts and I would not be at all surprised if it far exceeds my conservative drinking window estimation!

Drink 2023 - 2045

The 2016 Les Forts de Latour offers a pure, seductive bouquet of gorgeous, graphite-tinged black fruit, focused and full of tension. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and good balance and grip. This is a classic, tobacco- and graphite-driven Pauillac with a very persistent finish. There is something regal about this Les Forts de Latour, one of the finest vintages in recent years. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.

Drink 2022 - 2040

This is the kind of vintage where you just know Forts de Latour is going to hit it out of the park, and I would be happy to recommend choosing this 2nd wine over many main estate wines in less impressive vintages. It's restrained, nuanced, keeping plenty in reserve, but the texture is rippled, by turns slate then velvet, slowing everything down through the palate. This was the first year of 100% conversion into organic viticulture, not just within the walled L'Enclos but across the entire estate, with official certification in 2018. Where the 2017 Pauillac de Latour also released now) is all nuance and delicacy, the 2016 Forts is built, muscular, but full of precision, with deft strokes to define the tannins. A wine you will be thrilled to share - and one that has really grown into itself since being tasted En Primeur, underlining perhaps the benefit of a late release. 50% new oak. 37.5% of overall production.

Drink 2024 - 2034