A sublime wine, unbelievably youthful and vibrant still and one that holds attention from the first sip. Beautiful aromatic complexity on the nose; floral notes, patchouli, sandalwood, cotton candy, salted caramel and cherries. Feels like a thoroughbred that hasn't yet hit its stride. A beautifully lifted expression with mouthwatering acidity, tobacco and smoke, dark plum and berry fruit underpinned by beautiful yet tight tannins – articulated and nuanced, confident and powerful. This is structured and evocative with persistence and poise: should easily go strong for another 10-20 years. Winemaker at the time Jean-Noël Malbec. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

Drinking Window: 2023 - 2045

Georgina Hindle, Decanter (May 2023)

With nearly 30 years from vine to glass, this is a wine that shows the ageing potential of well-kept wines from exceptional vintages. Simply, this was as good as you’d expect an ’82 first growth to be – lashings of sweet tannin, incredibly pure flavours of cedar, blackcurrant, roasted meat and a cooked red fruit touch. So, so young and juicy, it doesn’t seem possible. Will this wine ever die?

Always somewhat atypical (which I suspect will be the case with the more modern day 2003), the 1982 Latour has been the most opulent, flamboyant, and precocious of the northern Medocs, especially the St.-Juliens, Pauillacs, and St.-Estephes. It hasn’t changed much over the last 10-15 years, revealing sweet tannins as well as extraordinarily decadent, even extravagant levels of fruit, glycerin, and body. It is an amazing wine, and on several occasions, I have actually picked it as a right bank Pomerol because of the lushness and succulence of the cedary, blackberry, black currant fruit. This vintage has always tasted great, even in its youth, and revealed a precociousness that one does not associate with this Chateau. However, the 1982 is still evolving at a glacial pace. The concentration remains remarkable, and the wine is a full-bodied, exuberant, rich, classic Pauillac in its aromatic and flavor profiles. It’s just juiced up (similar to an athlete on steroids) and is all the better for it. This remarkable effort will last as long as the 1982 Mouton, but it has always been more approachable and decadently fruity. Drink it now, in 20 years, and in 50 years! Don’t miss it if you are a wine lover. Release price: ($350.00/case)

Drink Date: 2009 - 2059

Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate (June 2009)

From the moment it is first opened the 1982 Château Latour is magical. Deep and still vibrant in color, but showing the translucence of age, the 1982 opens with intense, soaring aromatics that hint at what is to come. One taste is all it takes to confirm that the first impression is spot-on. This bottle, from an original wood case purchased on release, is a poignant reminder of how importance provenance is. The 1982 is simply stunning in its beauty. Vivid, multi-faceted and totally sensual, the Latour captures all the best qualities of this famous vintage. In 1982 yields were high, there was essentially none of the sorting that has become de rigueur, and cellar practices were far less ideal on paper than they are today.  And yet, the 1982 is simply stunning. What else can I ask for in a wine? Absolutely nothing. Except for a hope to run into it again. Well-stored bottles will keep for another two decades, although my impression is that the 1982 is not going to improve much from here. Actually, it can’t improve. This is as good as wine gets. 

Drinking Window 2016 - 2036

Neal Martin, Vinous (March 2016)

A spell-binding example of the most, consistently stunning wine from the legendary 82 vintage. Everything here is on target, in-place and balanced. There is a wall of ripe, regal, powerful, black and red fruits with a stately air of refinement and aristocracy that coat and fill your palate, leaving with a seamless, 60-second, plus finish.

Drink from 2023-2060.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider (September 2023)

The 1982 Latour has always been a quintessential Bordeaux and a quintessential Latour. This is just as composed and detailed as the finest bottles that I have encountered, bridled with captivating blackberry, graphite and cedar aromas that are brilliantly focused. Perhaps it is not quite as showy as it was a few years ago, yet it is still regal and as blue-blooded as they come. The palate is ineffably graceful and chiselled down to the finest detail. One bottle at the International Business and Wine dinner is perhaps more understated than previous examples, but another in Hong Kong delivers such tension and precision that you can only kowtow before it. The 1982 is a masterful, regal Latour and probably now the finest Left Bank exponent of this vintage. Tasted at the International Business & Wine Latour dinner at Ten Trinity and at the Latour dinner in Hong Kong.

Drinking Window 2018 - 2050

Neal Martin, Vinous (February 2018)

The 1982 Latour is the most consistent of the First Growths in this auspicious vintage. Tasted from both bottle and magnum in the UK in recent months, this note comes from an ex-château magnum tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux. It exudes class and majesty on the nose with its copious but brilliantly focused black fruit laced with cedar and graphite. To use a phrase I have written before, it is blue-blooded...regal. That comes through on a palate that has a haunting symmetry and a killer finish that is brilliantly defined and audaciously long, graphite lingering on the aftertaste. Quite simply, claret does not come better than this. Tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux.

Drinking Window 2022 - 2055

Neal Martin, Vinous (April 2022)

One of the three or four very greatest wines of the vintage, the 1982 Latour delivers aromas of dark berry fruit, rich cigar wrapper, loamy soil, walnuts and smoke. Full-bodied, broad and layered, it's deep, seamless and immensely concentrated, its fleshy core framed by sweet, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, expansive finish. A monument to the greatness of Bordeaux, it is one wine that's worthy of all the praise that has been lavished on it over the years.

Drink Date: 2012 - 2045

William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (December 2022)

Words cannot do this justice. The wine is incredibly concentrated, powerful, rich and yet, firm, regal, refined and elegant. At a tasting of close to 20 different 1982 wines, this was the wine of the tasting! And that is saying something. The intensity found here, does not quit! There is layer after layer of depth. On the palate, the wine just keeps on going and never quits. Freshness, kingly refinement length and expansiveness are all part of the game. Popped and poured, decanting would have helped. Further cellaring would assist as well. I am sure future generations with well stored bottles, especially in magnum with be drinking this until it's at least 75 years old, or longer!

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider (December 2017)

Pretty much the easiest 100 points that I will ever give, as has been the case every single time I have tasted this wine. Now at 41 years old, and yet showing no signs of flagging, deeper in colour than the 1983 or 1985 First Growths that we tasted alongside, still rich ruby and full of life, with just a hint of softening brick around the outer edges. Packed with sun-ripened rich plum and baked raspberry fruit, sewn through with fennel, aniseed, smoked caramel, soot, cigar box, liquorice and melted tannins that stretch out in front of you and suggest there are still years in front. Somehow, even at 41 years old, it captures all that you love about a young wine and rolls it together with the complexity of an old wine. Insanely good stuff that lifts you off your feet. The Pearson Group were owners at the time, overseen by Lord Cowdray, with Henri Martin and Jean-Paul Gardère as co-directors.

Drink 2023-2050

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (June 2023)