1988 Château Latour à Pomerol

Community Tasting Notes (7) Avg Score: 86.6 points

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  1/20/2024 - Tejassathian Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Drank this to celebrate my 35th birthday. This bottle was quite clearly aged Pomerol and drinking very nicely - perhaps more interesting aromatically than on the palate (as I sometimes have found with old right bank). Opulent and plush, with stewed plum, cigar box spice, velvety chocolate.

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  6/24/2023 - Juliansi Likes this wine: 90 Points

  I could figure out this was a Bordeaux, but the left and right banks kind of converge on 20 plus year vintages I feel. I guessed 1990s, and it was actually a 1988, and beautifully 100% Merlot too.
  
  Green peppers on the nose, with little to no funk. Very impressive for an aged Pomerol, of 35 years. Such a treat, having a well cared for wine of this age. Silky palate of red berries with cherries, wet soil and mushrooms too. And, there was that beautiful late sweetness on the medium length finish too.
  
  Acidity is medium at this stage, with fully resolved fine tannins. Chateau Latour à Pomerol is aged in between 30% and 50% new, French oak barrels, for on average close to 18 months.
  
  Terroir:
  The vineyard of 8 hectares is primarily Merlot only, grown in differing soil types. 2/3rds deep gravel and clay, and the remaining clay and loam. Being a Pomerol estate, output is typically small which in this case is only 30 k per annum.
  
  History:
  Originates from the estate of the Chambaud family in the 18th century, the sole heiress to the estate married Louis Garitey in 1875. They remained owners until Garitey's death in 1914 when the property was divided into three parts.
  
  One part of the estate acquired in 1917 by Madame Edmond Loubat, she bought additions to the property with the estate named Haut-Canton-Guillot adjacent to Trotanoy and Clos des Grandes-Vignes near Pomerol's church, that together form the present Latour-à-Pomerol property.
  
  Mme Loubat was also then proprietor of Château Pétrus, and the two properties have been closely associated. In 1961, it was inherited by her niece, Madame Lily Lacoste who remained the owner for 40 years. She then donated the estate to the Fondation de Foyers de Charité de Châteauneuf de Galaure in 2002.
  
  The estate was added to the properties farmed by Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix in 1962.
  
  1988 vintage:
  An exceptionally damp winter and spring, although there were no frosts. These conditions were prolonged right through June, and flowering took place under less than ideal conditions.
  
  Temperatures throughout summer were close to the average, but there was less rainfall than usual. Harvesting conditions were fine, but the uneven ripening of the different grape varieties caused problems for many of the growers.
  
  1988 is described as an excellent year for rich, concentrated St Emilion and opulent Pomerols such as this one.
  
  Thanks LMC for this bottle 6 (of 9), at our dinner in Champignon celebrating L's belated birthday. This was by far the oldest bottle of the night, and one of the most special too!
  
  24 Jun 2023
  Champignon, Malaysia

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  9/3/2021 - The_Cat Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Crimson red. First some animalic notes but short after delicous red berries hey and cherry notes with dom mushroom and wet forest floor. Medium to full body with silky smooth tannins and lo g persistent finish. Still aging potential for another decade.

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  1/17/2017 - englishman's claret wrote: 85 Points

  Rather hard and weedy, masking the dense plummy and clay notes that remain. The vegetal aspect blew off a bit with a couple hours in the decanter.

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  6/21/2014 - Connaître wrote: flawed

  Bottle was flawed.
  
  Please note: Bottle was bought at auction. Properly stored bottles or larger formats might still be great?

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