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Goedhuis, February 2019, Score: 19.5
Deep dense opaque colour, with strikingly polished black forest fruit aromas. The focus is initially on sweet dark fruits, with great richness. A beautifully balanced style with stunning purity, extremely bright and despite the innate power and drive, nothing is out of line, it is exquisitely balanced, with a long sweet and deliciously rewarding finish. A truly exceptional wine.
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Goedhuis, April 2010, Score: 95-98
What a fabulous contrast to Ch Lafite-Rothschild, with over 90% cabernet sauvignon in the blend, this is a hugely powerful and structured wine and very much the essence of what Latour is about. A deep intensely flavoured wine, focusing on strength and power, whilst supported throughout by a natural acidity which uplifts the palate and provides lovely freshness on the finish. A very complete wine indeed, which will give immense pleasure to many future generations of wine lovers.
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Neal Martin, March 2019, Score: 99
The 2009 Latour is endowed with a simply magnificent nose with intense blackberry and cassis fruit laced with minerals and graphite, extremely focused to the point of overwhelming the sense. Wow. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannin, multilayered black fruit infused with crushed stone and a hint of white pepper, though it clams up towards the finish as if to say, not yet. Outstanding. This is Latour firing on all cylinders. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.
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Robert Parker, February 2012, Score: 100
A blend of 91.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.7% Merlot with just under 14% natural alcohol, the 2009 Latour is basically a clone of the super 2003, only more structured and potentially more massive and long lived. An elixir of momentous proportions, it boasts a dense purple color as well as an extraordinarily flamboyant bouquet of black fruits, graphite, crushed rocks, subtle oak and a notion of wet steel. It hits the palate with a thundering concoction of thick, juicy blue and black fruits, lead pencil shavings and a chalky minerality. Full-bodied, but very fresh with a finish that lasts over a minute, this is one of the most remarkable young wines I have ever tasted. Will it last one-hundred years? No doubt about it. Can it be drunk in a decade? For sure.
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Robert Parker, April 2010, Score: 98-100
The 2009 Latour has off the charts concentration in addition to the highest level of tannin ever measured at the estate. The final blend was somewhat unusual in that it consists of 91.3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8.7% Merlot, and clocked in at 13.7% alcohol (even higher than the 2003). Possibly a 100-year wine, it boasts an inky/black/purple color as well as an extraordinary perfume of super-intense blue and black fruits, graphite, and a liqueur of rocks-like minerality. Enormously full-bodied yet at the same time incredibly fresh, vibrant, and precise, it coats the mouth, and builds incrementally to skyscraper-like texture, and a whopping finish that lasts over a minute. This remarkable wine reveals a certain accessibility already, yet one senses that it will be even richer, more nuanced, and fuller by the time it is bottled in mid-2011. A monumental wine from a monumental vintage in the Medoc, this is our children's children's children's elixir.
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James Suckling
This is incredibly floral on the nose, with violet and lilac as well as dark and ripe raspberry and blueberry. Full-bodied, with a dense and incredibly rich palate yet held back and in reserve. Such precision and beauty. It lasts for minutes on the palate. This reminds me of the 1990, but better made and better raised. It is really the style of Latour, where the tannins grab you at the end. This will most likely be a perfect wine.
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Decanter, February 2019, Score: 99
This is still closed, although a softening of the tannins is apparent. It has a gorgeous nose full of Pauillac power and finesse, with brambled fruits and touches of hedgerow as the Cabernet Sauvignon count heads upwards. The fresh core is clear from start to finish, giving that high-wire feeling that makes great Médocs so thrilling. There's a sense of drama to the cassis fruits, controlled but with impact and a sense of purpose, leading to a chewy finish. This is barely bedded down and has the shoulders and backbone to carry it for years. Don't approach it yet. Drink 2024-2046
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Decanter, April 2010, Score: 19.5
Black red, huge concentration of black fruits and great purity, wonderfully fragrant nose with wild violets and lifted freshness, great length and perfect texture, totally Latour and all the fruit and vineyard will come out over the years. Drink 2018-45
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Jancis Robinson, April 2010, Score: 19
Very deep and glowing crimson. Very rich and sweet ink on the nose. Wonderfully gorgeous and lush on the front palate. Then lots of heat and richness. Amazing power of fruit on the mid palate gives way to extremely pronounced tannins. Transparent, mellifluous, spicy. Violets, says Engerer. Dry Taylors port? Latour backbone. Glossy ripe fruit. Candied violets. Maybe in 03 we went overboard. Enormous energy. Very impressive.
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Wine Spectator, April 2010, Score: 97-100
This is incredibly floral on the nose, with violet and lilac as well as dark and ripe raspberry and blueberry. Full-bodied, with a dense and incredibly rich palate yet held back and in reserve. Such precision and beauty. It lasts for minutes on the palate. This reminds me of the 1990, but better made and better raised. It is really the style of Latour, where the tannins grab you at the end. This will most likely be a perfect wine.
