Latour 2003
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£850.00
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Latour 2003
HED0504
75 cl
13%
£850.00
Taxes included.
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Château Latour is classified First Growth and is one of the oldest wine producing properties in the appellation of Pauillac, with a history dating back to the 14th Century. The 2003 vintage was notable for its extremely warm temperatures and the red wines from Bordeaux had remarkable levels of fruit intensity and opulence. Composed of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, this is immensely full-bodied, rich and flamboyant, with wonderful layers of sweet black fruits, spices and stoney minerality. For all its decadence and heft, it is remarkably well-balanced and never over the top.
100 Robert Parker
"2003 was one of the hottest, earliest Bordeaux vintages ever. Some vines suffered from lack of moisture, but old vines and clay subsoil at Enclos saw this vineyard through. The Merlot harvest occurred between September 8 and 13, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked between September 22 and 30. The 2003 Latour is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Six percent of the press wine was added to the final blend. It has a medium to deep garnet-purple color, then wow—it explodes from the glass with bombastic black and blue fruits, followed up by meat, wood smoke, sandalwood and Indian spice accents with underlying floral wafts. The palate is full, rich, velvety, seductive and very long on the finish. There were only 10,800 cases made (rather than the normal 15,000-20,000)." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown - "2003 was one of the hottest, earliest Bordeaux vintages ever. Some vines suffered from lack of moisture, but old vines and clay subsoil at Enclos saw this vineyard through. The Merlot harvest occurred between September 8 and 13, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was picked between September 22 and 30. The 2003 Latour is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Six percent of the press wine was added to the final blend. It has a medium to deep garnet-purple color, then wow—it explodes from the glass with bombastic black and blue fruits, followed up by meat, wood smoke, sandalwood and Indian spice accents with underlying floral wafts. The palate is full, rich, velvety, seductive and very long on the finish. There were only 10,800 cases made (rather than the normal 15,000-20,000)." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown
100 The Wine Independent
The 2003 Latour is a blend of 81.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 0.5% Petit Verdot. It explodes from the glass with crème de cassis, stewed plums, licorice, and mocha scents, followed by nuances of charcoal, rose oil, and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate delivers surprising elegance and jaw-dropping poise with well-knit freshness and super-soft tannins, finishing with incredible length and grace. It’s a real paradox of a wine coming from this very hot vintage and a testament to the Enclos’ singular terroir.Lisa Perrotti-Brown14th March 2024
93 Vinous
The 2003 Latour is a wine that I have tasted many times, even buying some en primeur. Now it is reaching 20 years, and like other 2003s, I am beginning to think that even the best wines in the early days are starting to fall short of expectations. That is not to say it is a bad wine by any means. With layers of black fruit on the nose and hints of cedar, white pepper and aniseed, it is pretty burly aromatically and opens nicely with 20-30 minutes in the glass. The palate is structured and assertive, with grippy tannins and plenty of tobacco-infused black fruit. However, compared to other vintages, there is something just a bit "static" about this First Growth, an immovable object. Moreover, the longer I remain in its presence, it seems a little removed from a typical Latour as if the imprimatur of the growing season is beginning to influence the wine more than the terroir. I've scored this wine high in the past, but it's a complex wine to really love at the moment. Tasted at Medlar restaurant. Neal Martin1st August 2023
18.5 Jancis Robinson
As one might expect, this is the wine that seems set for the longest life of all among 2003 reds. Fiercely tense and taut in constitution it is in fact amazingly rich and sweet on the nose, with a hint of smoked meats – certainly an expression of the vintage as well as the estate. Indeed it is quite amazingly sweet on palate entry with exceptional ripeness, followed by dry, sandy, savoury tannins. Very thick and solid. Round and even smooth and silky on the mid palate – an unaccustomed overlay for Latour – and then extremely dense and chewy by the end. This should in theory prove to be a distinctive wine to taste blind, offering such an unusual combination of Latour rigour and 2003 ripeness. This year`s blend contains seven per cent press wine and one lot that usually goes into Latour was relegated to Les Forts. (JR)
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Chateau Latour
A Towering First Growth
Situated on the Bordeaux's Left Bank in the appellation of Pauillac, this superb First Growth is produced from the estate's 92ha of vines, spread across 138 plots, (47 hectares of which are located in renowned 'L'Enclos'). The clay and gravel soils give superbly concentrated, textural Cabernet Sauvignon dominant reds, with Merlot and smaller percentages of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc making up the blend.
The estate also produces two further celebrated reds, Les Forts de Latour and Pauillac de Latour. Certified organic since 2018, biodynamic techniques are also used in the vineyard.
