Château Latour 1990
Review of the Estate
Established in the 1670s, the vineyards of Château Latour are some of the oldest in the Mèdoc, pre-dating the existing Château (which was built between 1862 and 1864) by almost 200 years.
The grandiose Tower of St Lambert depicted on the wine's label is instantly recognisable. Built as a fortress during the Hundred Years' War in the late 1300s, it was burned to the ground in the 1450s and replaced by a pigeon tower, built from the stones of the former Château, between 1620 and 1630.
It was not until the early 18th century that Chateau Latour came to prominence as a producer of first class wines. This success can largely be attributed to the demands of a budding wine market in Northern Europe and the Marquis de Sègur's concurrent investment in Chateau Latour's vineyard and winery. Ownership remained in the de Sègur family for almost 300 years until 1963 when three quarters of the shares in Château Latour were sold to a British company, the Pearson group.
The intensive modernisation and attention to detail that followed this change in ownership has continued with the management of Francois Pinault, the current owner of Chateau Latour, who acquired the estate in 1993. Together Pinault and Frèdèric Engerer, his estate manager, are renowned for producing exemplary yet consistent wines, which are especially fine, even in weaker vintages. This notable finesse, as any discerning consumer will attest, is an exceptional and rare occurrence.
Vineyard
Surface area: 247 acres
Grape Varieties: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot
Average age of vines: 45 years
Density of plantation: 7,500 vines per hectare
Average yields: 48 hectoliters per hectare
Average cases produced: 17,500 per year
Plateau of maturity: 10-50 years
Château Latour 1990 Reviews / Tasting Notes
Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate
Point Score: 95+
This is one of the more perplexing Latours to evaluate. It has plenty of sweetness as well as a gorgeous, rich fruitiness, but it lacks the firmness one finds in more recent great vintages such as 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008. There is plenty of sweet, ripe currant fruitiness, abundant glycerin, and full body, but I'm still waiting for that extra nuance of complexity to emerge. It's all there, but the wine still seems to be more monolithic than one would expect in a wine approaching 19 years of age. It is not the sure-fire winner I thought it was in its youth, but then again, I don't have any reason to doubt that more complexity will emerge. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2035.
Wine Spectator
Point Score: 100
Like a Michelangelo; everything is in perfect proportion. Has an amazing amount of violets, new wood and fruit on the nose and palate and a superb concentration of silky tannins. The wine of the vintage, and the best from this estate since the legendary 1961. Best after 2000.
Vintage Tastings
Point Score: 96
was no slouch either, and it was nice to see it perform well. I had actually been fed three shots from three different bottles earlier, served to me by Robin Kelley O.Connor of the Bordeaux Wine Bureau on my way to the men.s room, and it was interesting to see subtle bottle variation even from the same case. There may have been variation, very slight, but there was no doubting the quality of this case overall. So many of the great Bordeaux have been traded so frequently that bottle variation is an issue, even for wines from 1982 or 1990. You know who may be even guiltier than retailers or customers taking shipping or storage for granted? The answer is ignorant wholesalers that did not even have temperature-controlled storage in the 1970s and 1980s; you would be surprised to find out how many did NOT until as late as the 1990s. Anyway, enough of that rant. The 1990 Latour had a deep and rich nose with beautiful cedar aromas. The wine was fragrant and perfumed with a touch of benevolent green. It was long, pure, rich and classy, although the always controversial and opinionated .Big Boy. RR thought that .all 1990s are in a shell right now. and that .the 1996 blows away the 1990.. The Latour was the wine of the night for me, and it will have a long future ahead of it