2014 Les Forts de Latour, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Description
93/100, Neal Martin (February 2024)
-
Colour
Red -
Vintage
2014 -
Alcohol
13% -
Grape
Cabernet Sauvignon,Merlot -
Body
Full Bodied -
Producer
Château Latour
Critics reviews
The 2014 Forts de Latour has turned out beautifully. Pliant, supple and open-knit, the wine is super-expressive, even at this early stage. There is lovely depth to the dark red cherry, plum and leather nuances, all in the vivid, articulate style that is found in the best 2014s. Best of all, the 2014 Forts de Latour will drink well with minimal cellaring.
Glorious aromatics with currants, flowers, stones and light mushrooms. Medium to full body and fine tannins that are long and polished. Super linear, structured and long. Drink in 2019.
Very dark crimson. So Latour – essence of Pauillac – on the nose. Very firm, concentrated and mineral. Fresh and racy. This is remarkably smooth on the finish. More suave than the Pauillac 2015 shown alongside at this London showing prior to release. Really rather lovely and seductive. Long and fresh. There is no doubt that Les Forts is more of a second growth than a second wine.
The 2014 Les Forts de Latour is a blend of 71.4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28.6% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it needs a little coaxing to reveal expanding scents of blackcurrant pastilles, baked plums and boysenberries with suggestions of wood smoke, fragrant earth, cast-iron pan and charcuterie plus a faint waft of black truffles. Medium-bodied, the earthy/savory palate has loads of lively black fruit with a refreshing line and firm, grainy tannins, finishing on a lingering ferrous note.
Drink 2022 - 2044
The 2014 Les Forts de Latour is one of those wines that deserves an hour to open and then observe it coalescing in the glass. The bouquet is initially high-toned and then mellow to reveal attractive scents of red fruit, cedar and incense. The palate is maybe a more malleable than I anticipated, clearly a Les Forts that is primed for drinking, although there is sufficient depth to suggest that it will give 15 years of pleasure, maybe more. Suave and surprisingly rounded for a 2014, this is a fine late released Deuxième Vin from the First Growth although I uphold my remark in my previous notes that I would have liked more Pauillac DNA. Tasted from ex-château bottle.
Drink 2020 - 2038