Classification:

First-growth 1855

Vineyards (red):

Average age of vines: 40 years (l'Enclos) and 37 years (for the rest)

Blend : 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot,5% Cabernet Franc and Peti Verdot

Density of plantation : 10,000 vines per hectare

Average yields (over the last 5 years) : 45-50 hectoliters per hectare (grand vin) and 55-60 hectoliters per hectare (for the rest)

Total average annual production : 380,000 bottles

Brand name : Chateau Latour

Appellation : Pauillac

Mean annual production : 220,000 bottles

Upbringing : Grapes are hand-picked, totally destemmed, and put into temperature-controlled

stainless-steel vats of 200 hectoliters. Fermentations and curvaisons last 3 weeks, and malolactics occur in vats. After malolactics, the wines are transferred into new oak casks for 20-26 months depending upon the vintage. They are racked every 3 months and fined (with egg whites) during the winter season that just precedes bottling.

Brand name : Les Forts de Latour

Average annual production : 20,000 bottles

(Les Forts de Latour is usually composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot)

Evaluation of present classification : Should be maintained

from the plots of land outside l'Enclos, called "Comtesse de Lalande," "Petit Batailley," and

Normally Les Forts de Latour is composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, one-

third of which comes from the young vines and two-thirds from the vines outside l'Enclos.

"Impressively situated on the Pauillac/St.-Julien border, Latour's vineyard can be easily spotted from the road because of the creamy-colored, fortress-like tower. Notably depicted on the wine's label, this formidable tower overloooking the vineyards and the Gironde River remains from the seventeenth century, when it was built on the site of a fifteenth-century fortress used by the English to fend off attacks by pirates. The wine produced here has been an impeccable and classic model of consistent excellence, both in great, mediocre, and poor vintages. For that reason, many have long considered Latour to be the Médoc's finest wine. Latour's reputation for making Bordeaux's best wine in mediocre or in poor vintages - such as 1960, 1972, 1974 - has been totally justified, although in the recent poor Bordeaux vintages - 1977, 1980, and 1984 - Latour's wines were surprisingly light and eclipsed and quality by those of a number of other chateaux. The wine of Latour also has a remarkable record of being a stubbornly slow-developing wine, requireing a good 20-25 years of bottle age to shed its considerable tannic clout and reveal its stunning power, depth, and richness."

The staff at Latour have always maintained that the "second" wine of Latour was equivalent in quality terms to a "second-growth" in the 1855 classification. In fact, they claim that blind tastings of Forts de Latour are held at Latour against the wines produced by the second-growths. If Forts de Latour does not do extremely well, then a decision must be made whether to declassify it as a Pauillac. In specific vintages, for example, 1978 and 1982, I would agree with their assessment, but in more objective terms, the wine is comparable to a fourth-growth in quality, which still establishes this wine as the finest "second" wine produced in Bordeaux.

The wine, which is vinified exactly the same way as Latour, comes from three vineyards called Petit Batailley, Comtesse de Lalande, and Les Forts de Latour. Additionally, selected lots of Latour (often from young vines) not considered quite "grand" enough are also blended with the wine from the aforementioned vineyards. The character of Forts de Latour is astonishingly similar to Latour itself, only lighter and quicker to mature. Les Forts de Latour is certainly among the finest of the second labels, or marques, produced by the well-known chateaux in Bordeaux.