Château Latour

Château Latour is located in Pauillac in the Médoc wine region, about 50 kilometres north-west of Bordeaux and roughly 300 metres from the Gironde. The oldest surviving evidence of Latour dates back to 1331; in 1378, the place is mentioned in the chronicles of Jean Froissart as a fortified tower for the protection of the Gironde. In the official 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines, Château Latour was rated as a Premier Cru.

Its proximity to the Atlantic and the Gironde provides an oceanic influence and tempers extreme cold and frost conditions. Most of the vines grow on gravelly slopes at heights of 12 to 16 metres above the Gironde. The 47-hectare Enclos comprises the château and is bounded in the north and south by two streams, and to the east by marshland on the Gironde.

At the centre of the Enclos there is clayey gravel, while at the edges there is gravelly sand. The gravel deposits come from the Pyrenees and the Massif Central and contain, depending on altitude, around 50 to 80 per cent gravel. Beneath this are water-retaining marl and marl-clay layers. The vineyard covers a total of around 96.5 hectares and is planted with approximately 76 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 22 per cent Merlot and 2 per cent Petit Verdot.

The entire vineyard has been farmed since August 2015 according to the principles of organic farming; the organic certification from August 2018 also includes the cellar and vinification. Biodynamic preparations are used in the Enclos and on some plots outside it. Work includes, among other things, vine pruning, tying-in, ploughing, work on the foliage, green harvest and replanting. Since 2008, horses have been used to plough the soil.

The grapes are sorted by hand, transported in crates of up to eight kilograms, destemmed and sorted again. Fermentation takes place in more than 80 temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks with separate batches. After about three weeks of alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation follows in the following month. Maturation takes place in French oak barrels.

Château Latour produces the Grand Vin de Château Latour, Les Forts de Latour and Le Pauillac de Château Latour. All three are red wines from the Pauillac appellation in France. The Grand Vin comes exclusively from an average of about 60-year-old vines from the Enclos and, according to the description, contains more than 90 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon. Les Forts de Latour is made from grapes from the edge of the Enclos, selected Enclos plots and other Pauillac sites, and typically contains 25 to 30 per cent Merlot. Le Pauillac de Château Latour is based mainly on young vines and wines that were not selected for Les Forts de Latour; its Merlot share is typically around 45 per cent.

Les Forts de Latour has borne this name since 1966, while Le Pauillac de Château Latour has been produced every year since 1989. For the Grand Vin, barrels are renewed each year; for Les Forts de Latour the share of new barrels is about 50 to 60 per cent, and for Le Pauillac around 20 per cent.