Chateau Latour a Pomerol, Pomerol 2022

I loved the 2022 Château Latour A Pomerol. This deep ruby/purple-hued beauty is all Merlot, harvested from the 1st to the 8th of September, that's pulled from eight hectares of deep gravelly and clay soils. Red and black fruits, truffly earth, spicy oak, and graphite, as well as a beautiful sense of minerality, all shine here, and it's concentrated and medium to full-bodied on the palate, with a layered, seamless mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. This brilliant Pomerol is hard to resist today, yet I suspect it will have 2-3 decades of overall longevity. It's the finest vintage from this château I've tasted.

Medium in body, the 2022 Latour à Pomerol is a linear wine built more on aromatic expressiveness and persistence rather than size. The vegetal quality it showed en primeur is absent today. Instead, the 2022 delivers notes of red fruit, blood orange, cedar, spice and dried herbs. Potent tannins and a somber fruit profile give the 2022 its decidedly virile feel today.

This really does strike the right balance between intensity, concentration and juiciness, certainly marked by the vintage in terms of its power and kick of rosemary and cloves, but there is beautiful juiciness behind it, and plenty of black cherry and damson fruit, grilled cherry pit on the finish, with aniseed and liquorice. One that shows there is a big difference in Pomerol this. year between terroirs and winemaking choices. Very good. 8ha, Lacoste-Loubat, harvest September 1 to 8, deep gravel and clay soils, with clay-sandy sectors.

The 2022 Latour à Pomerol has a relatively low-key bouquet, although there is much more complexity here than the preceding Certan de May. A mixture of red and black fruit, black truffle and light smoky scents, this gains aromatic weight with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied, fresh, lightly spiced and gently tannic. It's sapid toward the finish that tempts you back for more. This is a lovely, quite understated Pomerol for the vintage.

Aromas of sweet cherries, baked plums, licorice and cigar wrapper introduce the 2022 Latour à Pomerol, a medium to full-bodied, rich and creamy wine that's ripe and supple, with soft tannins that assert themselves on the finish.