Les Forts de Latour - Pauillac 2018 (750ml)

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Producer	Les Forts de Latour
Country	France
Region	Bordeaux
Subregion	Pauillac
Varietal	Bordeaux Blend
Vintage	2018
Sku	58306
Size	750ml

 

A fruit bomb of a wine, the 2018 Les Forts De Latour is just about overflowing with sweet cassis and darker currant-like fruit, as well as complex notes of smoked tobacco, flowery incense, and spice. This plush, full-bodied, sexy effort has sweet tannins, a layered, opulent mouthfeel, and a great finish. This sensational effort is based on 65.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and just a splash of Petit Verdot, and it's as good as most châteaux's Grand Vin. Drink bottles any time over the coming 2+ decades.

A solid and steely red with lots of blackcurrant and blueberry character. Medium-to full-bodied and polished, fine tannins. Flavorful finish.

The 2018 Les Forts de Latour is surprisingly approachable. It boasts serious concentration because of the warm dry summer and ensuing low yields, yet the intensity of the fruit pretty much covers the tannins, quite unusual for young Forts de Latour. Dark-toned fruit, gravel, incense, licorice and scorched earth add to the wine's distinctive sepia-toned personality. The 2018 turned out beautifully.

This is a gorgeous combination of cashmere and graphite, with racy edged cassis and blackberry fruit supported from underneath while light violet, anise and black tea details add range through the finish. A sleek and refined Pauillac that is hard to resist, but will easily handle cellaring. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2022 through 2035.

Richly perfumed on the nose, so aromatic and scented in a heady way - ripe strawberries and blackcurrants. A bit more subdued than I was expecting with a crushed stone texture to the tannins, less plush - more serious, straight, determined and all in one line. Ripe and cool black and blue fruits, less jammy than I was expecting but still with clear depth aided by high acidity and touch of spice and tension around the sides. Nicely textured - a complex glass of wine, definitely not 'easy drinking' right now - give it a few years and a long decant, but this builds and builds, with a great sense of complexity, terroir and minerality to it.

The just-released 2018 Les Forts de Latour wafts from the glass with aromas of creamy berries, licorice, red fruit compote, cigar wrapper and toasty new oak, followed by a medium to full-bodied, youthfully chewy palate with a sweet core of fruit that can't quite conceal its underlying tannic payload. Like many 2018s, its youthful flesh is receding to reveal structure that will demand some patience to resolve. - William Kelley (Apr 26, 2024)