2009 Les Forts de Latour

Community Tasting Notes

Community Tasting Notes (44) Avg Score: 93.1 points

  • Nez d’abord sur l’iode et le graphite, puis Bergamote et fruits noirs. Attaque splendide de velouté, presque sucrée sans l’être vraiment. Grande matière, belle tension. Du fond, de la race. Vraiment très beau.

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  • Unripe blackcurrant, blackberry, crème de cassis, cedar, liquorice and spice. It was quite difficult to discern this second wine from the first wine Chateau Latour. Wine was dense and still youthful. Enjoyable to drink now and at least three decades of aging potential.

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  • A fabulous wine, just coming into its window. Amazing floral nose bursting from the glass. The length goes on and on and. Lots of drinking pleasure here

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  • Extraordinary. Drank with friends following a 60 minute decant.
    Fully mature dark ruby with a flirtatious nose of dark fruits, mocha, spice and berries
    Easily First or Second Growth quality. Everybody was astounded
    10-15 years of delicious drinking ahead

    If a date, this was a former CEO -turned fitness fanatic as she embraces midlife and her pay reduction.
    AA+

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  • Wow so young and concentrated. Drank over past month using Coravin so did not decant properly. Blackish crimson color, very dense wine. On the nose graphite, black currants, perfumed cassis, leather and cigar box. Very powerful entry on the palate, lots of energy, acidity and backbone signaling more than 3 decades cellaring potential ahead of this wine. Beautifully crafted, tannic but solid fruits and balance shading these tannins and a long spicy dark red berries finish. Way too young but so promising. Score definitely to go up from here!

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  • 375ml. PnP. Dinner at Wah Lok Restaurant.
    Clean floral nose, very expressive. Sweet and smooth on the entry, fine-grained tannins. Mainly berries with just a touch of tobaccos. Precise with good details. Impeccable balance. In a very good place right now with years to go, an amazing 2nd wine. When I grow up, I want to drink a Latour every week, who cares if it’s Latour or Les Forts de Latour.

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  • Excellent, refined complex fruit with forest floor vegetation typical of Bordeaux I like, 94 Drank during Pandemic
    The wine looks purple colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like strawberry and cranberry. It tastes like forest floor. The body is medium. The wine has smooth texture. The wine finishes medium. The wine has low acidity.

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  • Decanted for 2 hours before serving. This particular bottle is not typical Les Forts. The palate is a bit strangle. I could not really tell this is from Chateau Latour. Maybe this is just bottle issue.

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  • Round, rich, starting to be complex. Great balance. Love this vintage.

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  • Very sophisticated but very young. Lovely complexity and breadth of mouthfeel (of a generous vintage) but edged by grippy slightly bitter tannins of youth. Didn’t really open and evolve much with air time. Feels like 10 years away.

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  • Wine night @ Cc’s place: Black fruits, ripe plums, candied berries, liquorice, cherry liquor. Long finish, with nice depth and a tinge of spiced plums. Velvety and succulent (as what JS describes), the fruits are very ripe. Somewhat New World in style for me. Surprise to see that this was a Les Forts de Latour 2009. This has good foundations and should age very well.

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  • Grand Bordeaux tasting at K&L: Really amazing nose. Cherry. Blood orange. Like a Moroccan spice note. Cherry liquor.

    More fruit on the palate. The tannin is still there but it's just starting to calm down. Cherries. Herbs. A light mineral\graphite notes. Wonderful, but only just starting to come into it's own. I think it'll be best with another decade on it.

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  • I love this second wine of Latour and the 2009 is outstanding.

    The nose shows, brightly floral, ripe and slightly stewed fruits of; dark cherries, blackberries, strawberries, black raspberries & haunting blueberries on the high nose. Beautiful, soft, dark spices, leather, graphite, light tobacco, red licorice, dry brush, limestone, dart crushed rocks, anise to black licorice, coffee, steeped tea, vanilla, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon stick with brightly floral; red, dark, blue flowers with violets & hints of lavender.

    The body is just full, round, silky and shows the astounding beauty & elegance of 2009. The structure, tension, length and balance are nicely knitted together. Brightly floral, ripe and slightly stewed fruits of; dark cherries, blackberries, strawberries, black raspberries & haunting blueberries. Beautiful, soft, dark spices, leather, graphite, light tobacco, red licorice, dry brush, limestone, dart crushed rocks, rich, dark, moist earth, anise to black licorice, coffee, steeped tea, herbal notes, eucalyptus, saline, vanilla, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon stick with brightly floral; red, dark, blue flowers with violets & hints of lavender. The acidity is dead on. The finish dances on the palate. It is perfectly balanced and elegant as hell. Just misses 95. If I had a whole bottle, it would get elevated. This wine in another 10 plus years to 35 years of age will stun.

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  • Smoke, tobacco, cigar box, earth and red fruit notes create the nose. It is easy to discern the level of fruit and maturity in the nose. On the palate, the wine offers freshness, ripe, dark red fruits, tobacco leaf, spice and chewy, ripe, soft tannins. There is the structure for further aging, yet you can pop a cork today, should you wish.

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  • Drank at Ten Trinity Square. Purple ruby appearance with no bricking. Leathery spicy nose. Palate muted at first then yielded rose hip, cassis, some blackcurrant, some leather and then again, more rose hip. This did open somewhat in the glass after a half hour but really needs a 1-2 hour decant. 93 now with some future upside.

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  • This is a textbook Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Pauillac, as it shows the real potential of the variety in the moderately warm climate.
    Deep black-ruby in color, the wine possesses a profound and intensive nose of blackcurrants, blueberries, cedar, smoke, graphite and earth.
    On the palate it doesn't disappoint either with it's full body of impenetrable black fruit, cassis and a wall of brooding tannins.
    The wine is ripe but not sweet at all and I don't recommend to touch it in the next 10 years. In fact I would wait as many as another 15 years before pulling the cork.
    This is a world class juice but don't expect any sort of precociousness a la Napa Valley here.

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  • This just keeps getting better with bottle age, like all great wines. Full bodied, with rich textures, firm tannins and layers of salty rocks, cassis and blackberries. You can drink this now with an hour of age, or wait a bit. It is difficult to believe this is the second wine, as it's better than many Classified Growths.

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  • Joanne Bordeaux Trip 2018 (Bordeaux): The nose was restrained at first, yet opened to reveal dark fruits, sweetly perfumed florals, hints of exotic spice and smoky minerals. It was velvety and weighty on the palate yet perfectly balanced by a mix of acid, tannin and vibrant dark fruits. Smokey and long through the finish, with fine tannin developing along with tart black fruits.

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  • Wow, what a nose; probably one of the most exciting nose I had in the past year. Intense aromas of blackcurrant, plum, cherry and notes of sweet spices (cinnamon). The colour is also amazing, very deep and almost charming...just by the colour, you can tell this is very serious stuff:) The palate is ALMOST as impressive - deep and complex with soft tannins. Drinking beautifully now, but it can remain in the cellar for another 15-18 years.

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  • Tokyo Visit; 3/22/2018-3/25/2018: Classic paulliac. Starting to soften slightly but still loaded with structure. Pretty hard hold at the moment but if decanted well can be enjoyable too.

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  • 375ml. It has been 6 years since I last opened a bottle of this. Shy but clean nose. Excellent on the palate, dense and fine tannins with good depth and length, clearly a step up from ‘09 Pauillac as it should be. This has certainly put on more weight over the last few years. Taste blind, I wouldn’t know this is a 2nd wine. Good now but should be better 10 years later. Keep a glass for the 3rd day, hardly any further development on the nose but seems to put on even more weight and maintains good balance. This is one massive wine but there is also no over-extraction, deceptive structure and power. 40 to 50 years wine?

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  • Pnp. I liked this even a bit more than the Pavillon Rouge from the same vintage. Darker fruit profile, wonderful lead pencil, and just like at Margaux a round and approachable second wine. A touch more depth here. Integrated tannins and good length. WOTN for me.

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  • Dark ruby. Great Latour nose already, with dark fruit, cassis, earth. The mid palate has filled up since I had this en primeur and shows very good structure. Denser and darker than the 2009 Pavillon Rouge next to it. I know the price has gone up on these, used to be reasonably priced second wines, but looking at the quality of this wine it is still worth considering. Young, decant for 1h or better wait till 2020.

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  • Dry, medium bodied, medium tannins. Nose of horse poo, barnyard, sterilizing solution and alcohol. Pretty tannic but hollow mid-palate, little fruity. Not so good for the price.

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  • Dinner at Yvonne's place. Left bottle opened for 9 hours before pour. Violet-red, dense and bold. Powerful fruity nose, concentrated and well structured, smoother and less tannic than previous bottle which I popped and drank.

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  • This wine is very young. Will get more balance in a few years. I love Latour and Les Forts. Very old school - will be great.

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  • Latour is a king amongst a small group of Bordeaux royalty, and the Les Forts has, since the 1970s, often been a spectacular and decently priced younger entry door. This vintage is, as the critics and observers note, ready to start drinking The dark garnet color is striking.And the nose, after an hour of permitting tannin to fade (though not disappear), reveals strong Paulliac notes but little in the way of complexity.Deep,rich, saddle leader, dark cherry, horse sweat, briar, a hint of cassis, burnt hay and lots of tannic =balanced dark fruit throughout. Fruit forward and typical for 2009.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this bottle (Actually half of it) but paying over $200 is not yet evidently worth it. If some critics are wrong and this ages and mellows into a more complex wine, then yes. But otherwise, the Chinese price inflation then is the only reason I can imagine for the tariff. I would take a second growth at half or less the price, understanding that the ethereal difference among the top crus are very much worth the freight. And this represents a questionable new world style.

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  • Full bodied, round, plush and polished, with a real freshness to the fruit along with richness and concentration to all the wine to expand and longer. The aromatics are equal to the mouth feel. Still young, this will add more complexity in the years to come. I've tasted this wine a few times since it was first shown in barrel and this is the best showing yet for this vintage. It's amazing to consider, but this is a better wine than Latour produced in many vintages during the 80's and 70's.

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  • Latour Dinner with Frederic from Chateau Latour. Nice nose, very quality and pure fruit. Not as lean as the 2005, and could use more time, but delicious ripe fruit on this and clean finish.

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  • Took about 3+ hours of breathing in the open bottle; dark berries and cherries, violets, mints, wet grasses, and a hint of animal furs in the quite elegant and perfumed nose; dark berries, licorice, and mild wood spices in the complex and juicy palate; creamy and long finish, dark berries, chocolate, more spices, and noticeable tannins; overall, 92-93 points at this stage; still needed a few more years of aging.

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  • A decent enough wine, but a little disappointing. Not a lot of nose, no real distinctive flavor. Decanted and drank over two hours.

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  • Bordeaux 2009 vs. 2010 - Check in on 50 well known Chateaux: Very dark purple. Nose of dark fruit with a distinctive earthy, foresty and animalic touch, quite different to the Leo Poyferre tasted along side who is stressing the fruit much more. On the palate dense and balanced. What can I say, complex, brooding, animalic Latour style – beginner palates no need to apply. While the price of this wine has unfortunately gone up by a lot (2009 no less than tripled vs. 2000 release price) to be fair, I must say that the quality has gone up too. This is now performing in the league of grand cru Pauillacs / St.Julien. I preferred the 2010 for its noticeably bigger mid palate which set it apart from all Les Forts I ever had. (Group Score 94.1/RP95)

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  • Rich, bright, medium body, good balance, very drinkable. Would be a very pleasant sub-$50 Bordeaux.

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  • maroon in color. leather, earth, tobacco, cedar, floral, dark fruit, on the nose. spice, pepper, blackberry, oak, cedar, earth, on the palate. medium acid, big tannins, on the finish.

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  • K&L #4

    Nose- mixed ripe fruit, jammy. Very interesting. Some oak.

    Palate- nose didn't carry through the palate. Nice fruit flavor, but less than expected, blue to black. Not as tannic as other 09s. Heat, methol. Smooth but in needs of texture. Medium acidity. Medium finish.

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  • Tasted next to the Grand Vin and that clearly impacted my impression--blind I'd probably rate this higher. A wonderful wine and clearly the little brother of the Grand Vin. The nose was fresh and forward with dark fruit, coffee, more smoke than the Grand Vin. Palate matched with sweet, plush red and black fruit. More compact and angular. Wood spice. Medium+ finish. A great 'second' wine.

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  • Big and bold. Plenty of oak and tannins bot balance solid acids. Should age well. Nice nose with lots of oak and fruit. A bit to gruff at this point to say what it's peak will be, but for now it's quite nice already. PDQ93+

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  • Impenetrable inky purple colour. Nose of crushed rock and weighty undertones of violet, black fruit and blueberries. Palate very tight and unforthcoming on day 1, but promises much with a ravishing blend of berries, coffee, smoke and a hint of vanilla. Lovely but big, big tannins and a long finish. I can only begin to imagine what the Grand Vin must be like!

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  • 375ml Bottle. After great experience with the delicious Pauillac de Latour 2009, I am really looking forward to taste this wine. Beautiful nose. Very similar nose to Pauillac, just a tad more focus and forward. Notes of licorice, cassis, and dark cherry with nice toasty oak. Dark chocolate aftertaste. Medium-bodied with less viscosity vs Pauillac. Pauillac has a creamy and grainy texture while this wine is more clean and focus. Put on a bit more weight over the 6 hrs drinking period. Looking for more weight with this wine as it ages. Just like a lot of Bordeaux 2009, approachable when young with its rich, jammy fruits and fresh acidity. Graceful stuff, but it's darn bloody expensive for a 2nd wine. $1800 pounds a case, anyone? 94-95 pts.

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  • Head and shoulders above any Forts I've ever had ... in a completely different league. All but a couple dozen properties would hail this as a wonderful first wine. Evolves nicely in the glass ... big but not overpowering. Seductive and ready to drink, but has lots of life if you can bear to let it rest.

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  • Blackberry, smoke, wet earth and wood scents open to a sweet, ripe, lush, round Pauillac filled with juicy, crisp cassis and blackberry. From a blend of 65.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32.3% Merlot, 1.9% Petit Verdot and a tiny bit of Cabernet Franc, the wine reached 13.5% alcohol. This wine is better than many vintages of Chateau Latour produced in 80’s and early 90’s.

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  • bunch of Latours - short: very open nose, giving, exuberant - ok this is what 2009 is about

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  • great aroma, wonderful taste, amaizing!

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  • 65.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32.3% Merlot, 0.6% Petit Verdot

    Crushed berries, jammy blue fruit, primary, good structure 91-93 pts

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