Tasted in Beaune with Jean-Charles Thomas, 14 December 2022.
Maison Louis Latour
18 Rue des Tonneliers
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 24 81 00
www.louislatour.com
More reports with Maison Louis Latour
On 2022:
“The weather was nice, no maladies and we harvested in good temperatures but not hot. There was some ‘deception’ in the reds – they were heterogenous, some were perfect, and others were behind in maturity – the same in white but on a lower level. Volume was okay too – I think they will start tasting well quite quickly – helpful with the low stocks!”
On 2021:
“Oh yes, much lower volumes than in 2016 – Charlemagne brought 8-9 hl/ha for example but losses were one to two-thirds less. Like in 2017 we have lovely fruit but not the power of other recent vintages – but despite the problems of the growing season we have nice clean wines – we bottled a number already as the volumes were so low – they are almost garage wines with such low volumes. I’m sure 20-30 years ago that the wines made from these grapes would have been mediocre but today we have more precision. We did shorter elevage in order to best keep the fruit – for both colours. Probably all will be bottled by February-March.”
The wines…
The usual story at this producer – good but never quite great reds – but on the other hand, this producer knows what to do with their simply excellent and often great whites – they are worth your time to make a special search.
2021 Marsannay
This just racked today
Some aromatic concentration but still a little tight. Hmm, this sits very well on the palate – broad, mobile, cool fruit. A jump in finishing intensity – a super finish – more than very good!
2021 Aloxe-Corton
Domaine – Almost a month in bottle.
Silkier, slightly chalky, lovely fruit. I like the modest structure here – open, faintly reductive today but with lots of mouth-watering red fruit. Fine finishing intensity again – lovely.
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin
The Maison assembly of different contracts.
This nose is more direct, there’s a precision to this fruit with a floral accompaniment. Extra depth and clarity of flavour – here we have something excellent. Good structure and persistent in the finish. This could be excellent!
2021 Beaune 1er Vignes Fanches
Domaine and bottled just 10 days. 2 ha but not 25 hl/ha
A roundness to this aroma, very cushioned red fruit in style. Broad and much fresher than the Gevrey – but the flavour melts in juicy style. Today I have a preference for the Gevrey but this finish is impressively long.
2021 Volnay 1er Chevrets
A contract, not yet bottled.
A width of smoke that overlays the supple, darker-red, fruit. Still some gas here – The tannin more overt and drying – a wine of obvious structure today yet always with some higher-toned floral elements. More Pommard than Volnay style. Wait 5 years – as a starting point.
All the following are bottled:
2021 Vosne-Romanée 1er Beaumonts
A contract. Bottled 1 month
A width of dark, classically spiced fruit. Mouth-filling, with clarity of line, almost sweeping flavours, the modest, slightly dry, tannin frames the flavours but with no visible grain. A wine with decent intensity and fine clarity – structural but this is still very good.
2021 Corton
Domaine, the only cuvée, so no Vigne au Saint or Corton-Grancy in this vintage as the volumes were so low. Bottled last week.
Airy, open, precise and pretty red fruits. Lots of scale to this mouth-filling wine. Open, but with silk rather than overt structure, floral inflected. A rather elegant Corton Grand Cru – more a 1er cru weight but deliciously complex – yum!
2021 Chambertin Cuvée Héritiers Latour
Starting timid, this nose opens up with panache in the glass – complex – never powerful – but with a fine invitation from complex, slightly cushioned fruit. Mouth-filling but silky – really some elegance – more power than the Corton but still not a powerful wine for Chambertin. Supple, with a mm or two of cushion and absolutely delicious flavours. Silken wine. Worth the tariff? – that’s a different question but this is a beautiful wine – and the finish lasts very well, only at the very end a hint of finishing astringency, but very modest and it will fade.
2021 Romanée St.Vivant Les Quatre Journeaux
Only about 15 hl/ha. Like the last two, bottled 1 week.
A nose that has a bit more energy and overt delivery of complexity – less of the serenity of the Chambertin – here with more spiced energy. More structural than either the Corton or the Chambertin – a large-scaled wine of much complexity and good energy too. A super finish – almost a haunting length here. The hardest of the three GCs to taste yet the one with the ‘most.’ All three will reward your patience but wait for this a little longer.
Les Whites…
More and more DIAM used, and for all the half-bottles and for magnums too. For now, most of the the 1ers and GCs stay with cork but NdTec – it’s possible that in the future they could move to all DIAM:
2021 Marsannay Blanc
Not yet bottled.
Good width of aroma, slightly cushioned with a good perfume. Direct, precise, delicious wine of fine complexity – simply excellent – almost chalky finishing. I’m not the biggest fan of Marsannay Blanc but here’s a wine that could convert me!
2021 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er En Caradeux
Domaine vines. In bottle a few days from only 8 hl/ha – elevage in 1-year-old barrels.
A pretty, cushioned, perfumed nose – very inviting. A more structural shape – open, mouth-filling with a small frame of tannin in this texture too. An impressive finishing intensity that you can almost chew! Keep 3 years before testing – but this is super.
About 80% losses here – not yet bottled. To be bottled next week.
Ooh – that’s a good one – a slightly toasted depth of aroma with some modest extra width from a more perfumed fruit. Direct, mineral and mouth-watering. There is silk to the texture here too. A wine of cool fluidity and precision – it’s certainly excellent – it’s potentially even better than that.
2021 Meursault 1er Goutte d’Or
In this smaller volume vintage, nearly 50% new oak. 13.1-13.2° natural here. A third of a normal vintage – ‘almost good for 2021!’
A more classic width of Meursault aroma – faintly spiced with an almost ginger component. Fuller, with excellent texture, a more layered wine – lots of concentration but still open in style. A bit more elevage needed in the middle where the wine lacks a bit of interest – but not in the finish – a great start and a great finish here – so a wine with lots of potential…
2021 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Sous les Puits
Broad and also of depth – filling in the gap with appealing freshness – that’s a really super nose. Supple but cool, fluid, silky textured – even a touch of salinity. Simply excellent.
2021 Puligny-Montrachet 1er La Garenne
This bottled for 1 month
A narrower aromatic – but with such finesse – 50% new oak – but I don’t see it! Also a classically fresh Puligny of energy and tension – slowly adding extra dimensions of flavour as the wine moves and melts over the palate. Finishing more modestly in terms of power but not in terms of ultimate length – it’s a much calmer finish. Very good wine!
One week in bottle.
Some weight of aroma to balance the freshness – less width than many but there’s an ease and purity to this nose that’s very inviting. Oh – mineral, cool flavoured, there’s some structure but more of an architecture to the shape. Slowly melting delicious flavour over the palate – silky-smooth with some finishing floral extras. Ooh – such great potential here – as a minimum it’s excellent but I suspect there’s even more to come!
10 ha, not all in production but not much more than 50 hl made in total – that’s not much more than 2 barrels per hectare!
Yes – there’s a classy width of aroma here – faintly toasty. I love this – it just melts over the palate – faster, and less obviously powerful than the Caillerets but with a little extra ‘something.’ If Corton-Charlemagne can have finesse – it’s here. What a beautiful drink, already! Bravo!
Third vintage with this label – prior it was blended with other domaine sources. Owned by Mr Poirier, the clos shared with the Pierre Morey domaine of Meursault. ‘Thanks to the walls and lots of candles at 5am we had +5°C in the middle of these vines – but still almost half a harvest.’
Here is an impressive volume of aroma – generous and inviting – lovely precision here. Full, generous, a wine of layers and power but never heavy. Lots of concentration here. The finish has concentration too, ending with a haunting, moreish, length. That’s a very classical, richer Bâtard but with no lack of energy and freshness. Simply excellent Bâtard – so a great wine then!