Château Latour 2012 - REL 2025 ex Château 1er Cru Classé, Pauillac AC, MC

Latour

Product number: n31964

Château Latour 2012
- REL 2025 ex Château 1er Cru Classé, Pauillac AC, MC

Rating in the 100-point quality scale: 97

CHF 460.00

Prices excl. 8,1% VAT plus shipping costs

Availability: 54 bts. available | content: 75 cl

Wine available as single bottles can be found here

Château Latour is one of Bordeaux's legendary Premier Cru estates, and its wine is synonymous with exceptional quality and longevity. Many consider it to be one of the best wines in the world. Frédéric Engerer, the dynamic director of Château Latour, is driving this idea forward and enjoys the full confidence of François Pinault, the owner. Production volumes have been drastically reduced in recent vintages, so that only the best plots of grapes are used for the Grand Vin. Since the 2011 vintage, Latour is no longer offered as En Primeur, but instead the château only releases the wines when they are considered ready to drink. The Grand Vin of Château Latour is made exclusively from “vieilles vignes” (old vines) with an average age of 60 years in the Enclos. Gravettes, Sarmentier, Pièce de Château... these are the names of some of the best plots that express the character of the terroir and shape the identity of the wine each year. The heart of the Enclos is the only terroir that can produce the depth, elegance, and concentration we expect from a Grand Vin every year. Here, Cabernet Sauvignon (which accounts for more than 90% of the blend) can develop its optimal expressiveness in terms of color, fullness, and freshness. These wines need time—often a decade—before they are ready to drink. The bouquet and tasting impressions gradually evolve, becoming increasingly complex and eventually reaching a peak, after which the tannins soften and the wine slowly loses quality. Beyond enjoyment, these wines can evoke strong emotions and unforgettable moments. Château Latour is known for its ability to produce fine wines even in difficult years. VINTAGE 2012: 2012 was a rather late vintage, marked by considerable spring rainfall and mineralisation followed by significant summer drought. Except for a very cold first fortnight in February, the winter was mild and wet. High spring precipitation was mainly concentrated in April. Cryptogamic pressure on the vineyard was contained by generally cool temperatures and a late start of the vegetative cycle. May was dry with very variable temperatures whereas June was rainy and mild. The dry and moderately warm conditions in July and August ensured a slow and optimal berry growth, preserving both the aromatic complexity of the fruit and a beautiful freshness on the palate. TASTING NOTES: On the nose, this Château Latour is pure with a round and elegant fruitiness. The mouth is silky with great density and a vibrant fruit. The tannins are meltingly soft. Harvest: 24 September 2012-16 October 2012. 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot.

Country:	France
Region:	Bordeaux
Producer/appellation:	Pauillac
Wine type:	Red wines
Year:	2012
Content:	75 cl
Organic/bio dynamic:	No

Neal Martin

Vinous

The 2012 Latour has a potent bouquet of blackberry, graphite and distinctive tertiary notes [instead of more marine scents observed four years earlier]. Initially, the palate is slightly disjointed on the entry and displays a subtle herbal quality, plus hints of pencil shavings. The 2012 demands a few minutes to really coalesce and achieve the precision and pixelation that have been the hallmark of this Grand Vin in its youth. Layers of black fruit coat the mouth, and a bitter edge lends tension, particularly toward the very persistent finish. Though its release implies, and the rhetoric from the château indicates, that it is ready to drink, if you want my advice, cellar the 2012 for another five or six years to witness it in full flight. It has always been a candidate for wine of the vintage... just have a bit of patience. 04/2020

96+

Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

The 2012 Latour is a blend of 90.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.6% Merlot and 0.2% Petit Verdot. Medium to deep garnet colored, the nose slowly, measuredly emerges with notions of preserved Morello cherries, baked blackcurrants and blackberry compote, giving way to nuances of pencil shavings, unsmoked cigars, Chinese five spice and sandalwood plus ever so subtle hints of cardamom and eucalyptus. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating black and red fruit preserves with a firm, grainy-textured frame and fantastic freshness, finishing with a veritable firework display of lingering spices and minerals. This is a more restrained, relatively elegant vintage of Latour that may not have that “iron fist in a velvet glove” power of the greatest vintages but nonetheless struts its superior terroir and behind-the-scenes savoir faire with impressive panache. It is drinking nicely now with suitably rounded-off, approachable tannins, and the tertiary characters are just beginning to bring some more cerebral elements into the compote of temptingly primary black fruits. But, if you’re looking to drink it in full, flamboyant swing, give it another 5-10 years in bottle and drink it over the next 20-25 years+. 03/2020

James Suckling

James Suckling

Very perfumed with hints of minerals, currants, wet earth and stones. Full-bodied, muscular and chewy. Polished tannins, tight acidity and a savory finish. Very reserved. Muscular. Better in 2019. 02/2015

Jane Anson

Inside Bordeaux

Re-release of the 2012 vintage, the first one that came off the Place de Bordeaux, and it is moving into its drinking window at 14 years old, although as ever with Latour there is no rush to drink this, and the wine seems in a similar place to my last tasting in 2022. Plenty of Pauillac typicity in terms of blackcurrant and bilberry fruit shot through with mint leaf and cedar, given depth and character with fennel, liquorice, crayon, crushed rocks, graphite. Muscular tannins but with enough light in between to make this a relatively early-drinking Latour. Harvest September 24 to October 16. 08/2025

David Sly

Decanter

A decade in the bottle, yet this powerful Bordeaux expression is still tightly wound and youthful. Its serious core of black fruit – with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon augmented by 9.6% Merlot and a pinch of Petit Verdot to add vibrant colour and a rich floral lift – enters the palate with confronting force, then finishes with a tight, flinty lick and the squeeze of muscular tannins. It has the architecture to last for decades in the cellar. 04/2025