2001 Château Latour Grand Vin

The 2001 Latour has an exquisite bouquet of blackberry, hints of sloe, cedar and mint, all very complex and beautifully defined. A slight pitted black olive aroma surfaces with time. The palate is medium-bodied with precise tannins and white and black pepper mixed with clove and tobacco. Pauillac through and through; Latour through and through. This is actually one of the best bottles of the 2001 that I have tasted, and it will battle it out with the 2002 for supremacy.

A wine that’s firing on all cylinders is the 2001 Latour and this beauty over-delivers in the vintage! Based on 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, it offers incredible aromatics of crème de cassis, exotic spices, lead pencil shavings, forest floor and truffles. Deep, medium to full-bodied, and incredibly elegant, with polished tannin, it’s utterly irresistible today, yet given its balance and length, I suspect it has another 15-20 years of prime drinking.

The 2001 Latour is magnificent. A huge, structured wine, the 2001 Latour boasts notable depth to match its vertical, towering structure and pure power. At nearly fifteen years of age, the 2001 remains deep, virile and imposing. With air, the 2001 is a approachable now, but ideally it needs at least a few more years in bottle. This is a superb showing by any measure. Frédéric Engerer adds that 2001 was the last vintage that was lightly filtered prior to bottling.