99
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
The 2005 Château Latour is about as classic Latour as it gets and has the vintages (and Chateau’s) dense, powerful, massively concentrated style. Darker currants, scorched earth, leather, bloody meats, and green tobacco all define this incredible Pauillac and it’s full-bodied, has a massive mid-palate, both ample tannins and acidity, and a great finish. Based on 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot, it clearly offers pleasure today but I’d nevertheless give bottles another 4-6 years if possible. It’s will probably see it’s 100th birthday in fine form. It’s unquestionably in the same league as the 1982, 1990, and 2009.
99
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Dark ruby black in color. Brilliant, intense aromas of mineral, blackberry and currant, with hints of Indian spices and cigar box, lead to a full-bodied palate, with ultrafine tannins and a beautiful balance of blackberry, raspberry and mineral. There's subtlety, yet also great depth. Lasts for minutes on the palate. This is a Latour with fabulous tone and vigor. Best after 2018. 12,500 cases made.
97
Vinous Tasting Note
Deep ruby-red. Cassis, blackberry, violet, minerals and licorice on the nose. Dense and sappy in the mouth, with a wonderfully tactile quality and great finesse but youthfully unforthcoming today. The greatness of the wine can be seen on the almost painfully intense, slow-building, resounding finish, which features major tannic clout, extraordinary texture and breadth of flavor and great verve. You can't scrape this juice off your palate; I had the impression that the flavors were stronger after I had swirled and spit the wine. Engerer believes that the 2005 Latour is a more complete wine than either the 2000 or the 2003 made here. The 2000, he told me, could have used a bit more length, volume and brilliance of fruit, while the 2003 lacks classic aromas. The 2005, he added, has it all. This may well be a wine that lasts a half-century.
98
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
2005 was a very dry, warm and sunny vintage, causing vine stress in some areas of Bordeaux. Harvested from September 26 to October 6, the tannin/IPT levels were very high this year. The 2005 Latour is blended of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot. It is the biggest surprise of this tasting—until now, the wine was relatively closed and broody, but today the wine is just starting to reveal its personality—and what a stunner! Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with provocative floral scents of roses and violets over a core of fresh blackcurrants, chocolate-covered cherries and black raspberries with hints of fertile loam, unsmoked cigars and black tea. Medium to full-bodied, firm, grainy and packed with muscular fruit, it has an epically long, savory finish sparked by floral notes. 12,000 cases were made.