For an estate classified in 1855 as a Premier Cru, Latour has proved more than willing to court publicity and to seize the limelight over the last 50 years. High-profile ownership changes, early adoption of organic viticulture (assisted by horses) and most recently the withdrawal from the en primeur distribution system have created a global notoriety somewhat at odds with its lack of visibility in the Médoc itself. To this day Latour has no prominent château building, just a vernacular-styled house built in 1964, and of course the eponymous dovecote.
In the eighteenth century the estate came into the ownership, through marriage, of Marquis de Ségur, a serial buyer of vineyard properties that later encompassed Lafite, Calon (Ségur) and Mouton. Both inheritance and the French Revolution caused a shuffling of ownership within the Ségur family over two centuries until 1963, when the then heirs sold the property to British interests, Lord Cowdray’s Pearson Group (owners of the Financial Times) and Harveys of Bristol. For 30 years visitors to Latour were usually greeted by a British General Manager and the sight of a Union Jack fluttering in front of the house.
Latour was sold to British brewing conglomerate Allied Lyons (now part of Pernod-Ricard) in 1989 for a reputed £110 million. Four years later it was on the market again, bought by French retail billionaire François Pinault, also owner of auctioneers Christie’s, for only £86 million. Celebrated wine writer Hugh Johnson was a director of Latour from 1986 to 2001.
The change of ownership in 1963 marked the dawn of a golden era for Latour. Its ’61 vintage is now regarded as one of the century’s great wines though, interestingly, experts were wrongfooted in initial tastings: such an already approachable wine could not possibly have the structure for long life, they avered. 1970 and 1982 were landmark vintages, as was 1990.
New management extended the chais and vineyards and Latour was the first of the First Growths to install stainless steel vinification vats incorporating temperature control. In 2015 an imposing new barrel cellar and tasting rooms were opened to visitors, from whose large plate windows healthy horses could be admired as they tilled between the (organically grown) vines.
Latour’s vineyards lie at the lower end of Pauillac, surrounding those of neighbouring Pichon-Lalande. They are the epitome of the best of the Médoc: planted on gravelly outcrops 12-16 metres above the level of the nearby Gironde estuary. A clay subsoil provides a useful moisture reserve in seasons of drought. The heart of the estate, the 47 hectare Enclos, supports vines of at least 60 years age exclusively from which the Grand Vin is drawn each year. It is planted more than 90% to Cabernet Sauvignon.
Latour’s second label Les Forts de Latour (not, it is stressed a ‘second wine’ though downgraded barrels from the Grand Vin are often employed in the blend) comes from its own vineyard sites, mostly adjacent to the Enclos. While evidently a junior sibling, its composition has more Merlot and fewer new barrels are used in its ageing.
Some 16-20,000 9lt cases are produced across the range each year. Latour does not reveal the production figures for each label however it is likely that the Grand Vin accounts for less than half of the total. This relatively small volume contributes to is scarcity in the market and concomitant high price. Chateau Latour is regularly judged as one of the finest wines of each Bordeaux vintage and current market prices range from £4500 (2011) to £9000 (2009/2010).
Latour’s decision, announced in 2011 by its inscrutable President and CEO Frédéric Engérer, not to release new vintages en primeur but to feed them into the market once mature enough to be consumed, caused shockwaves in Bordeaux and across the wider market. According to the estate this decision was driven by a desire to bring the wine closer to drinkers. It was accompanied by a push to reach out more directly to its consumer market, especially in Asia, where the habit of laying down wine is still in its infancy. Sceptical merchants suspected that, like many estates in Bordeaux, Latour had noted that early buyers profited more from price uplift as each vintage matured than the château made from producing the wine.
The policy of withholding stock in this way adds to cost – the significant additional storage is needed to hold multiple vintages before eventual sale being one. As it happens the policy may not please the estate’s accountants: 2011 was the last vintage released en primeur by Latour, the Grand Vin offered at €440 a bottle ex Bordeaux. In 2019 the ‘ready to drink’ release of 2011 came out at a price barely €10 higher – hardly a great return on capital given eight years’ additional storage.