Chateau Latour2016
RED WINE
- Producer Chateau Latour
- Country France
- Region Bordeaux
- Appellation Pauillac
- UPC 0 15643 50065 7
Reviews
Decanter 100
A monumental wine from Latour. This isn't yet ready to drink but offers an impactful and promising palate full of muscle, tension and length. A complex nose filled with pencil lead, crayon, cola, mint, dried herbs, violets, and tobacco, layered with cocoa powder and espresso nuances. On the palate, it is both generous and controlled, suave and slick, with an effortless texture that fills the mouth with bright red fruits and cool, stony elements. The wine expands beautifully, with a powdery, fleshy grip leading to a long, mineral-driven finish marked by wet stones, graphite, and cola. Still compact and somewhat caged, the tannins remain firm and structured, almost austere in their tension. It carries a sense of power and poise, but still with supreme charm.
by GH, Decanter , 2025
Jane Anson 100
Impressively precise and muscular, no question that this needs longer in the bottle before really being ready to drink, but everything is in place for decades of pleasure. Smart timing of this release, a vintage that underlines without question just why Latour is so revered, and why there is a clear logic to holding it back at the estate for almost a decade, allowing the first part of its ageing cycle to take place under fully controlled conditions. Very much a classic Pauillac, with confidence and character, waves of mint leaf, coffee bean, cola, crushed rocks, crayon and liqourice root, opening up to show fragrant nuances of rose petals and peony.
by JA, Jane Anson , 2025
Jeb Dunnuck 100
Retasting the 2016 Chateau Latour next to both the 2010 and 2022 had me feeling like a kid in a candy store. Needing lots of air to show at its best, its dense purple hue is followed by quintessential Latour notes of smoky blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and lead pencil shavings. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Pauillac that has lively acids, a pure, seamless, layered mouthfeel, building yet perfectly ripe tannins, and that rare Latour mix of power, austerity, and elegance that makes this chateau so compelling.
by JD, Jeb Dunnuck , 2025
James Suckling 100
I am dreaming as I smell this wine, perfectly ripe cabernet sauvignon with currants, tobacco and fresh mint. Orange blossoms too. This amazing nose is so complex. Medium- to full-bodied, this has has perfectly integrated tannins that you don't feel but know are there, elevating the wine to another level. It's very drinkable because of its stellar balance, yet the tannic tension gives it energy and seamless texture. A benchmark Latour that reminds me of the 1982 in many ways. Drink or hold.
by JS, James Suckling , 2025
Vinous Media 100
The 2016 Latour is a vintage that I have tasted a couple of times post-bottling. On one occasion, it warranted a perfect score, but that was then moot since this vintage had not been released. Now that it is due to hit the shelves this coming March, does the wine still merit that three-digit accolade? Without question, yes. Deep lucid deep purple in color, it seems to shimmer in the glass. The bouquet plays with you, a bit of a femme fatale, distant for the first few minutes during which I chatted with the superstar of this First Growth, winemaker Helene Genin. Then, it magically coalesces and gains incredible intensity with blackberry, pencil lead, background hints of oyster shell and notes of Japanese wakame. The aromatics announce exactly which chateau you are doing business with. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins, again, as I found before, blessed with beguiling symmetry and ineffable poise. Residing firmly on the black side of the fruit spectrum, there is underlying mineralite. Veins of cassis run through the persistent finish. This is everything you could really wish for in a Latour. The 2016 can be uttered in the same breath as the 1900, 1924, 1959, 1961, 1982 and 2010. Magnificent.
by NM, Vinous Media , 2025
Wine Spectator 98
Densely packed with cassis, blackberry and black cherry preserve flavors, this glides rather than pounds, with remarkable purity, sleek graphite and tobacco notes, and a long finish that glistens like just-polished steel. Don't think the sleekness means a lack of longevity; this is balanced like a Calder sculpture, and the graphite spine is the bedrock that will let this sashay to being one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage.
by JM, Wine Spectator , 2019