Latour 2000 (3.0L)

100 JS / 99 WA / 98 RP / 97 VM

Latour has made truly great wines in the past two decadesand this is one of the best. It has fabulous aromas of black truffles, currants, raspberry and dried flowers. Mind-blowing on the palate, its an emotional and soulful red. - James Suckling

Served blind at the chateau. There is so much brooding intensity in this wine, almost as if it is stalking the senses. Certainly there is remarkable mineralite here, sensational definition with briary and graphite developing with time. The palate is firm and masculine, tannic, powerful, such density and weight on the finish, yet showing no compassion to the tasted_yet. Approached blind, this is difficult to love as it is such uncompromising Latour, but it will blossom. Tasted December 2009. - Neal Martin, Wine Advocate

The 2000 Latour (a relatively abundant 14,000 cases compared to what they produced in 2009, 2008, or 2005) is packed and stacked. The extremely rich, black/purple color to the rim is followed by a wine with some subtle smoke, loads of minerals, a hint of vanilla, and plenty of creme de cassis as well as roasted meat and a slight scorched earth character. Broad, savory, and rich, the wine seems to be about 5 years away from full maturity and should drink well for at least 40-50 more years. A great effort, probably eclipsed only by 2003 and 2009. - Robert Parker

Full medium ruby. Wonderfully sweet, rich aromas of cassis, minerals and bitter chocolate. A huge wine with almost painful intensity; solid as a rock and at the same time utterly sensual and creamy, with great inner-mouth complexity and depth of flavor and a complete absence of rough edges. Almost too easy today, says Engerer. Sweet notes of roasted nuts and chocolate add to the wine's early appeal. A powerful, hugely rich Latour with a great building finish and perfectly suave tannins. This was really the last vintage of Latour with a meaningful percentage (3%) of cabernet franc, as the old franc vines were removed after 2000. But Engerer noted that Latour planted 1.5 hectares of petit verdot, which can be expected to represent up to 4% of the blend by 2004. - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media