1966 Chateau Latour Grand Vin [JG96][WA96][V95]

Producer: Chateau Latour 
Region: Pauillac, Bordeaux, France 
Blend: Bordeaux Red Blend   
Year: 1966  

John Gilman, 96 Points 

"When I read that the British ownership group had started to “soften up” Latour’s structured and powerful style just a bit after the purchase in 1963, I immediately thought back to this utterly classic 1966 version as persuasive evidence that the assertion was simply the misperception of commentators at the time! To my mind, this is one of the great, forgotten legends produced at Latour in the twentieth century and this wine remains very close in quality to the twin towers of 1959 and 1961 that preceded it by half a decade. The wine is now into its plateau of peak maturity, but in classic Latour style, still with structure to carry it many more decades down the road. The bouquet offers up a superb blend of sweet cassis, black cherries, black truffles, cigar box, gravelly soil tones, still a bit of tobacco leaf and a nice framing of cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and really retains a lovely core of almost sappy black fruit, with great focus and grip, modest tannins, tangy acids and superb backend mineral drive on the very long and very complex finish. One of my favorite vintages of Latour." 

Wine Advocate, 96 Points 

"The 1966 Latour remains an exemplar of the vintage, certainly one of the best, if not the best Left Bank wine of the vintage. Here, served blind, its quality was a beacon, quintessentially Pauillac with that trademark graphite seam through the intense black fruit, cold stone and a touch of tobacco. It remains undimmed by its age (though this was served from a magnum of impeccable provenance). The palate is medium-bodied and that graphite theme continues unabated, flanked by beautiful, precise and pure vestiges of black fruit. 'Pure class' are the final two words of my tasting note and at 50 years old, they sum up this immensely impressive Château Latour." 

Vinous, 95 Points 

"The 1966 Latour was similar to previous bottles. Masculine and obstreperous, the 1966 is aloof at first. It doesn’t want to get to know you. Then it reveals gorgeous tobacco and pencil shaving notes that an only come from Pauillac. This example is more understated than others, and reluctantly unfolds in the glass. The palate is very well balanced with dry and firm tannins. The acidity is well judged and lends edge to a trenchantly conservative Latour that on this occasion begrudges doling out as much fruit as the 1962 Latour. Yet both the precision and backbone on the finish are outstanding and its unapologetic aloofness and “superiority complex” is utterly aborting. Though the winery had undergone a complete refit between vintages, there are stylistic similarities between the 1966 and the 1961, though the latter is endowed with more persistence and depth." 

Alcohol: 11-14% 

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