2003 Château Latour Grand Vin

Community Tasting Note

15 comments have been posted

• Comment posted by davidlown:

  1/15/2016 3:55:00 PM - Fake?

• Comment posted by Ispendtoomuchmoneyonwine:

  1/15/2016 7:26:00 PM - I guess it's possible. I bought it as a future at Zachy's. I never drank a 03 that I liked

• Comment posted by davidlown:

  1/16/2016 2:55:00 AM - I'm sure it's real if you bought Zachys future , sorry.

• Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

  7/4/2016 3:43:00 AM - I've had the 1999 a few years back and 2001 last year and they were very austere and not showing much aromatics or complexity. Latour might take 20+ years to come around.
  
  Regarding 2003 Bordeaux, many have a roasted characteristic to the fruit like hot year chateauneuf-du-pape. That unique expression might not be your thing. Sell the 2003s and buy 2001!

• Comment posted by Ispendtoomuchmoneyonwine:

  7/4/2016 4:59:00 AM - I had the 1999 Latour in 2003 and it was fantastic

• Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

  7/4/2016 12:52:00 PM - Well, regarding the 1999, there are two answers, my bottle was bad or the 1999 was nice and open early on, and then went into its shell, which is pretty common with Bordeaux.

• Comment posted by Ispendtoomuchmoneyonwine:

  7/4/2016 1:38:00 PM - I think I like my Bordeaux very young before they shutdown

• Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

  7/4/2016 1:44:00 PM - Have you ever had mature Bordeaux? 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1990 vintages are drinking well. The best still have fruit, but cigar, oak, earth, spice, smoke, truffle, mushroom, and Brett add extra dimensions. You don't get the dark black currant and bright cherry fruit, the vanilla or floral notes as much, but the tannins are gone, and the finish is very long.

• Comment posted by prufrocksabogado:

  12/4/2016 12:43:00 AM - Noted your comment on my post a while back. Similarly underwhelming experience with this wine.

• Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

  12/4/2016 1:22:00 AM - Well, I bought a half bottle. Wish me luck!

• Comment posted by Ispendtoomuchmoneyonwine:

  12/5/2016 2:22:00 PM - Good luck

• Comment posted by Ispendtoomuchmoneyonwine:

  12/5/2016 2:24:00 PM - I'm beginning to wonder if 1st growths are worth buying anymore

• Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

  12/5/2016 2:48:00 PM - I'm very interested in the quality vs price question, particularly regarding Bordeaux. I think almost everyone must agree that by the time you are spending more than $200 on a wine, the quality is not going up linearly with price. ie. a $400 bottle of wine is not usually twice as good as a $200 bottle.
  
  We've done a few blind studies in my tasting group on this topic, but not enough yet. The best one was a 1997 Left Bank horizontal with the 5 1st growths and 5 other wines and the 1st growths placed 1st (Lafite), 2nd (Margaux), 4th (Haut Brion), 6th (Mouton), and 7th (Latour). Pichon Lalande took 3rd, Leoville Las Cases 5th, and Leoville Poyferre took 8th. So in this case, the 1st growths tended to the top of the pack, but not definitively. Also, among the other wines we had Potensac and Duhart Milon which were just terribly weak.
  
  I bought the 2003 Latour in the hopes of doing a similar 2003 study, actually, so we'll see how it goes.

• Comment posted by Bordeaux_Jon:

  12/5/2016 2:50:00 PM - Regarding an earlier comment about drinking Bordeaux young. I haven't had many first growths young, only the 2009 Haut Brion and Mouton, and I have to say both were super disappointing experiences. I'm not sure the 1st growths are particularly compelling at that stage.

• Comment posted by Ispendtoomuchmoneyonwine:

  12/5/2016 5:02:00 PM - I like Clerc Milon