Les Forts de Latour 2001

This wine was showing slightly less impressively in 2003 than it was last year. Nevertheless, it possesses sweet cherry and black currant fruit along with notes of earth, herbs, and tobacco leaf. While elegant, it is less like its bigger sibling than one would expect. It should drink well for 10-12 years.

The 2001 Les Forts de Latour is one of many that I had not tasted for a decade. Now at 20 years old, it has a lovely, almost melted bouquet of black fruit laced with tar, cedar and pine, rose petal, occupying that liminal point between primary and secondary stages. The well-balanced palate offers a dash of black pepper on the entry and shows good weight and tension. It’s lively yet classic in style, and fans out wonderfully toward the persistent, saline finish. 2021-2045

Mid crimson with some transparency. Savoury, appetising and very winning. Racy. Sleek, relatively lightweight but very classic claret. Juicy and wonderfully gouleyant. Dry finish but absolutely classic. Sort of St-Julien structure, with Pauillac minerality. The first vintage in the new facility with smaller vats. Drink 2009-2030. Date tasted 7 Jul 09.

The undeniably reliable second wine, the 2001 Forts de Latour, is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot, and represents 35% of the production. It exhibits abundant quantities of sweet tannin, medium body, admirable fruit extraction as well as ripeness, and plenty of cedar, black currant, and earthy fruit. It should drink well for 14-15 years.