The fresh currant and violet aromas are so complex and beautiful on the nose. Full body, ultra-refined tannins and lovely tannin tension. Shows focus and such finesse. Beautiful finish. Try after 2024.

The 2016 Les Forts de Latour is the clear highlight among these new releases from Latour. The first thing that is evident about the 2016 is the pedigree of the vintage. Undisputedly great. Readers will find a potent, dark Forts de Latour endowed with massive concentration and tons of depth. The 2016 won't be ready to drink anytime soon, but it holds tons of promise. Hints of gravel, sage, licorice and pencil shavings linger. The 2016 was impressive a few years ago. It is even better today.

Violet scented dark black cherries and figs on the nose, quite powerful. Tannins are generous but they're juicy and plump, soft almost chalky, they have a really great impact, filling the mouth together with the fruit. Everything has melded together, super balanced and all very harmonious - still clearly powerful with precision and sculpting of the fruit and a long finish with the flavours going on and on. Good acidity gives freshness and a real rush of strawberry and cherry juice on the first sip lifts and sustains the palate the whole way. Such a charming wine with great impact and presence.

The 2016 Les Forts de Latour is superb, unwinding in the glass with notions of blackcurrants, wild berries, sweet loamy soil, cigar wrapper and English walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it’s concentrated and tightly wound, with superb depth at the core, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins. This is an impeccably balanced, utterly classical Forts de Latour worth a special effort to seek out.

The winner of the best second wine in the vintage goes to Château Latour. Their 2016 Les Forts de Latour is a match for just about anything out there. It shares its bigger siblings stature and class, with a sensational perfume of cedarwood, black currants, graphite, and lead pencil. Seamless, ultra-pure, and medium to full-bodied, it too needs a good 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for 2-3 decades.

Violet scented dark black cherries and figs on the nose, quite powerful. Tannins are generous but they're juicy and plump, soft almost chalky, they have a really great impact, filling the mouth together with the fruit. Everything has melded together, super balanced and all very harmonious - still clearly powerful with precision and sculpting of the fruit and a long finish with the flavours going on and on. Good acidity gives freshness and a real rush of strawberry and cherry juice on the first sip lifts and sustains the palate the whole way. Such a charming wine with great impact and presence. Drinking Window 2021 - 2030
Tasted by Georgina Hindle (at Latour, Pauillac, 08 Nov 2021)
Part of Place de Bordeaux: March 2022 releases

The 2016 Les Forts de Latour is superb, unwinding in the glass with notions of blackcurrants, wild berries, sweet loamy soil, cigar wrapper and English walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it’s concentrated and tightly wound, with superb depth at the core, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins. This is an impeccably balanced, utterly classical Forts de Latour worth a special effort to seek out. WK

The 2016 Les Forts de Latour has a gorgeous bouquet, extremely pure and floral, veins of blue fruit, cassis permeating the blackberry fruit. The palate is beautifully balanced, again, very saline and a little spicier than I expected. There is a veneer of black fruit that makes it seem quite approachable, yet the tannins and backbone are there behind it. This is a superb Les Forts de Latour. Frédéric Engerer opined that it will drink in two or three years, though its substance and complexity suggests that those with the wherewithal to cellar this Les Fort will be amply rewarded. 95pts
The 2016 Les Forts de Latour offers a pure, seductive bouquet of gorgeous, graphite-tinged black fruit, focused and full of tension. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and good balance and grip. This is a classic, tobacco- and graphite-driven Pauillac with a very persistent finish. There is something regal about this Les Forts de Latour, one of the finest vintages in recent years. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting. 95pts

Some call Les Forts the second wine of Latour but in truth it is far more than that - it is a terroir-specific wine with dedicated vineyards and quality to rival most grands vins. Really enticing, perfumed, violet-laden nose - underpinned by that essential gravel and cedar character. Ultra fine tannins frame a juicy mid palate which has a lovely warm earth minerality and bright pure blackcurrant fruit. Great harmony and balance. - April 2017

This is the kind of vintage where you just know Forts de Latour is going to hit it out of the park, and I would be happy to recommend choosing this 2nd wine over many main estate wines in less impressive vintages. It's restrained, nuanced, keeping plenty in reserve, but the texture is rippled, by turns slate then velvet, slowing everything down through the palate. This was the first year of 100% conversion into organic viticulture, not just within the walled L'Enclos but across the entire estate, with official certification in 2018. Where the 2017 Pauillac de Latour (also released now) is all nuance and delicacy, the 2016 Forts is built, muscular, but full of precision, with deft strokes to define the tannins. A wine you will be thrilled to share - and one that has really grown into itself since being tasted En Primeur, underlining perhaps the benefit of a late release. 50% new oak. 37.5% of overall production.

A bit fleshier and more caressing than a typical Pauillac, this has flavors of warm fig, currant and blackberry preserves inlaid with charcoal and smoldering tobacco notes. There's grip for sure and a twinge of warm cast iron on the finish, but the fruit detail keeps the upper hand throughout, showcasing the purity on the finish. Very, very solid. Best from 2023 through 2035. — JM

Regal, fresh, lively and with sweet, red fruits, hints of citrus, tobacco, earth and flowers, this is soft, vibrant and already showing its potential. This is classic in style, in all the right ways with juicy, crisp fruit, the structure to age and a tanninc backbone. Give this five to eight more years before popping a cork.

64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, tiny bit of Cabernet Franc. Les Forts is 37.5% of production and has an IPT of 77. Very supple tannins and absolutely pure drive. Sleek and pure. Rather floral and great evolution of tannins. Super-expressive. (He used very little sulphur on the fruit, which may have had an influence…) Great purity. Dances. Much more refreshing than this wine used to be. (JR)