Critic Notes
Crafted from an assemblage of 84.5 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and .5% Petit Verdot, this vintage represents just 34% of the production. 3% press wine was added to the blend, which is half of what’s normally included in the assemblage. The estate continues its march towards biodynamic farming. At this point, 62 acres are farmed using biodynamic techniques. The eventual goal of Chateau Latour is to become completely biodynamic within a few years. - Dark ruby in color with purple accents at the rim, the perfume offers wet forest floor aromas, cassis, cedar wood, spice, earth and blackberry. Subtle, refined and elegant, this finesse style of Latour is long, clean and pure. Lacking the concentration of 2010 or 2009, this stylish Latour is long and filled with pure, spicy cassis in the fresh finish. Jeff Leve, theWineCellarInsider.com
Score: 95-97/100Jeff Leve
Concentrated Cabernet nose lifted by floral wild violets, the classic restrained firmness of Latour with intellectual more than sensual complexity to come. Drink 2018-2040. Decanter.com
Score: 18.5-/20Decanter
A Latour with a steely backbone and a savory character. Blueberries and currants with hints of violets. Full body, with a long and racy finish. The texture is very tight and racy. Classy for the vintage. James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
Score: 95-96/100James Suckling
The Grand Vin is a blend of 84.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 0.5% Petit Verdot, representing 34% of the crop. The nose demands coaxing from the glass with introspective dark berry fruit, mineral, graphite and just a hint of cedar. The palate is classic Latour with tensile tannins in the driving seat and the fruit residing in the passenger. It has finely tuned acidity that lends it freshness and tension. There is superb minerality towards the finish but it retains that strictness and focus without blinking. If you love Latour, you will love the 2011. Neal Martin, eRobertParker.com
Score: 94-96/100Neal Martin
The 2011 Latour has a wonderful soapy Cabernet nose. Etherial though perhaps lacking some volume at the moment. The palate reveals a granite-chiseled Latour but with a real skip in its step: lots of vibrational energy. The tannins feel just a little bit exagerated at the moment and dominate the persistent finish. Very fine. FINE+RARE
Score: 18-/20FINE+RARE
This is all silk and velvet, with gorgeous mouthfeel as the wine sails along, with cassis, cherry eau de vie and freshly sliced plum flavors, with a deeply ingrained iron note that adds considerable length on the finish. Tasted non-blind. James Molesworth, WineSpectator.com
Score: 93-96/100Wine Spectator
84.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 0.5% Petit Verdot. Elderberry juice in colour. Black core. Reticent cassis perfume, not very forthcoming. Intense, deep, dry and long. Very refined and it feels as if it is all texture at the moment, no spare flesh but it’s more a question of no fat not leanness. It opens up to very pure cassis fruit but remains restrained. A slight dustiness increases the freshness. Dry purity and refinement. It's not even reined in, the constraint is built in. 'Super-bon élégant', opines Frédéric Engerer in an isolated burst of enthusiasm, the tannins remind him of those in 2000. Classical lines. Absolutely no generosity but Engerer reckons it will take on flesh. Very very long. Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Score: 18-/20Jancis Robinson
A blend of 84.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 0.5% Petit Verdot, the 2011 Latour represents only 34% of the crop. It hit 13.1% natural alcohol. One of the vintage's most compelling wines, it possesses a dense ruby/purple color as well as a sweet, open-knit personality with ripe tannin, superb intensity, good purity and harmony, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, and lots of crushed rock, floral and black as well as blue fruit notes in addition to hints of ink and forest floor. This beautifully rich, savory Latour will be surprisingly drinkable in 4-5 years, and should age easily for two decades or more. ||By the way, Latour harvested relatively late for the Medoc, beginning the harvest on September 12 and finishing on September 26. Wine Advocate.April, 2012
Score: 93-95/100Robert Parker
