Les Forts de Latour
⏳ Drinking Window
2025 - 2045
🍷 Vintage Profile
The 2015 growing season in Pauillac was characterized by an exceptionally warm, dry spring and early summer that ensured seamless flowering, followed by critical August rainfall that alleviated hydric stress on the gravel soils. September brought cooler, sun-drenched days with significant diurnal temperature shifts, allowing the organically farmed parcels to achieve full phenolic ripeness and thick skins without sacrificing acidity. Harvest concluded under optimal, clear skies between mid-September and early October, yielding concentrated fruit framed by ripe, structural tannins and pure cassis depth. Regarded globally as a benchmark modern vintage, this bottling is entering its prime drinking window in 2026, possessing the concentration and balance to evolve gracefully through 2040.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted rack of lamb, grilled ribeye steak, pan-seared duck breast
✨ Technical Specifications
The 2015 Les Forts de Latour is a triumphant expression of a highly acclaimed Bordeaux vintage, shaped by a hot, dry summer and perfectly timed late-season rains that allowed for ideal phenolic ripeness. Sourced from designated plots outside the historic 'l'Enclos'—including Petit Batailley and Sainte-Anne—as well as select young vines from the estate's core, this wine is crafted with the same uncompromising precision as the Grand Vin. It underwent traditional vinification before aging for 18 months in French oak barrels, 50% of which were new. The result is a wine of immense depth, marrying intense blackcurrant and graphite notes with a refined, muscular tannic structure that epitomizes the gravel-rich soils of Pauillac.
🍾 About the Producer
Dating to 1331 with the construction of its historic fortified tower, Château Latour stands as one of the definitive Premier Grand Cru Classé estates in Pauillac, Bordeaux. Positioned along the Gironde estuary on deep Günzian gravel ridges underlain by dense clay and marl, Latour enjoys a moderating maritime microclimate that shields vines from extreme frost and fosters optimum Cabernet Sauvignon ripening. Under François Pinault’s Artémis Domaines and the rigorous direction of Frédéric Engerer, the estate achieved full Ecocert organic certification alongside extensive biodynamic vineyard practices, even utilizing draft horses across its historic 47-hectare walled parcel, l’Enclos. Vinification occurs parcel by parcel in thermo-regulated stainless steel before long maturation in fine-grained French oak. Château Latour is celebrated globally for yielding profound, sovereign, and intensely structured red wines endowed with monumental aging capability. Its benchmark portfolio includes the legendary Grand Vin, the distinguished second wine Les Forts de Latour, and the approachable Le Pauillac de Château Latour.
🍇 Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon (approx 70%), Merlot, Petit Verdot
🍷 ABV
13.5%