Les Forts de Latour, Pauillac, 2012
Sadly Chateau Latour have withdrawn from the primeur system, so collectors of this noble estate will have to wait for ex Chateau releases in years to come to secure their 2012s. A smorgasbord of aromas with cool cassis fruit, dark mulberry, bitter chocolate, violets and stoney minerality. There is wonderful precision, tremendous depth and real purity. A triumph of terroir and technical wine making. A very focussed and impressive wine, with all the hallmarks of a great Pauillac.
critic reviews
Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2012 Les Forts de Latour offers fragrant, open-knit scents of warm cassis, fruitcake, and spice box plus wafts of dried herbs, cigars, and underbrush. The medium-bodied palate delivers a chewy frame and just enough fruit, finishing a little hard.
The 2012 Les Forts de Latour has a light minty bouquet, more red than black fruit, touches of orange peel and light pencil shaving scents. The palate is medium-bodied with good density, fine tannins, becoming increasingly precise towards the finish, graphite and black pepper lingering on the aftertaste. Wonderful breeding here, a step ahead of other Deuxième Vins. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.
Great quality, in a sweet spot to drink. Has power and grace, and plenty of raspy slate-strewn tannins to sink into, muscular enough to showcase the powerful soils of Latour. Blueberry and blackcurrant fruits in abundance, violet-edged, succulent rather than intense. No need to rush to drink, not the same persistency as 2010 or 2016, but this is easy to recommend. 43% of overall production.