Chateau Latour a Pomerol, Pomerol 2019

Wonderfully evocative nose, rich and vibrant, floral and perfumed alongside red fruits with a tiny touch of wood spice. Rich but dark and cooling, a brooding and bewitching style with liquorice-laced fruit and firm tannins. Serious, mouth filling, concentrated and rich but well delivered. There is a clarity to the fruit but this is all muscle and sinew at the moment. Lovely but tight and tense, so focussed with a hint of crushed stone and mint on the finish. A characterful style.

The 2019 Latour à Pomerol is just as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel, if not more so. Creamy and expansive, the 2019 opens beautifully in the glass. Bright acids red fruit, blood orange, tar, gravel and spice build effortlessly with a bit of time. The 2019 is a wonderfully complete, polished Pomerol that will provide pleasure for many years to come.

The 2019 Château Latour A Pomerol is terrific, with a spicy, savory herb, tobacco, and leather-driven bouquet as well as a rock-solid core of darker cherry and mulberry fruits. With terrific balance, ripe, velvety tannins, good mid-palate depth, and a great finish, it's another outstanding 2019 Pomerol that readers will love. It will keep for 20-25 years.

The 2019 Latour à Pomerol has retained its attractive, discreet nose of well-defined blackberry, wild strawberry, sage and iodine aromas, though you have to coax them out. The palate has improved since I tasted the barrel sample, but I still have reservations. This is dense, grippy and very assertive, but what is missing is a degree of finesse, personality and grace. It feels just a little "pushed" on the finish and doesn’t entice me back for another sip. I would like to retaste this in a few months' time.