2009 Château Latour Pauillac 750 ml

Situated on a hill in the southern end of Pauillac, Latour is the only First Growth (and among a tiny handful left in Bordeaux) that remains L’ Enclos—a walled vineyard. All of Latour’s Grand Vin comes from the deep gravel beds within this cloistered terroir, which gives the wine its immense concentration. Its proximity to the vast Gironde estuary allows cooling breezes from the Atlantic Ocean to provide structural balance.

The incredible history of Château Latour is well-documented, and dates back to 1331 when a tower, called Tor à St-Lambert, was built on the site. This tower was used for defense in a battle during the Hundred Years War, after which the estate was referred to as La Tour (the tower). 

A report in 1755—100 years before its 1855 Classification—showed that Latour was already recognised as a producer of some of the best wine in the region, listing it as one of only four properties whose wines fetched more than 900 livres for a tonneau (the others being Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, and Margaux). Thomas Jefferson visited Latour in 1787 on a tip that it was one of the best estates in all of Bordeaux. 

Today, some 227 acres make up the estate, with 116 directly surrounding the château and yielding the grapes that produce the Grand Vin. Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for 80 percent of the vines, with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot making up the rest.

In 2012, Latour’s director Frédéric Engerer withdrew from Bordeaux's annual En Primeur release, citing that his reason for doing so was to hold the wines until they are ready to drink. This 2009 vintage, at eleven years old, is just entering the stage of approachability, and will continue to develop complex layers and textural refinement over the next 30 years.