Beschreibung:

Château Latour--Vintage 1981
12 bottles per lot
CHATEAU LATOUR 78 Hectares of vines: 80 Cabernet Sauvignon; 15 Merlot; 5 Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc Annual production approximately 350,000 bottles In July 1993 the French entrepreneur and businessman, Mr François Pinault bought Château Latour from Allied Lyons, restoring Château Latour into French hands after 30 years of British ownership. The 47 hectares which surround the Château, are called "l'Enclos" and is located near the boundary with St-Julien and Léoville Las Cases in the north and stretches to Haut-Bages-Libéral. Only the grapes from these 47 hectares make it into the Grand Vin de Château Latour . The soils vary: clayey gravel on a subsoil of marly sediment; gravelly sands with small pebbles; and marly clay which suits Merlot. All the soils are characterized by excellent drainage which encourages the vines to develop deep roots in search of nutrients and water. The proximity of the Gironde River which is only 300 metres away provides a slightly warmer mesoclimate than elsewhere in Pauillac and manifests itself in early flowering and ripening, and means that there is less risk of frost damage. This was clearly demonstrated in 1991 when many properties lost up to 70 of their crop due to a severe frost on April 20th. Château Latour only suffered a 30 loss. The average age of vines is 50 years old; there are 600,000 vines with an average density of 10,000 vines per hectare. Frédéric Engerer, the President, along with the vineyard manager, Domingo Sanchez and the cellar-master, Pierre-Henri-Chabot have ensured that grape selection is paramount, and only grapes from vines that are at least 25 years old are allowed into the Grand Vin . Hand-harvesting and a first sorting are carried out by 200 pickers, before being transported to the winery for the second round of sorting and destemming. The winery contains 66 temperature controlled stainless steel vats which enables the separate vinification of different plots. Maceration takes place for approximately 4 weeks with automated pumpovers, the pommace is removed and the wine is returned to vat for the malolactic fermentation to take place. By December the wine is in new oak barrels, where it remains for about 18 months with rackings about every three months. Blending is completed by March the following year, with fining with egg white, but since 1999 no filtration and the wine is retuned to vat for a month prior to bottling. As Stephen Brook writes in The Complete Bordeaux ; "No other Médoc wine can match Latour for power, depth of flavour, and grandeur it has power, fullness, immense depth; it is muscular but never coarse". Château Latour--Vintage 1981 Pauillac, 1er cru classé In "HKDNP" import stamped original wooden cases Lot 84 one corroded capsule. Levels top-shoulder or better "The colour is dark ruby, the bouquet offers plenty of ripe cassis and spicy oak, and the flavour is generous, silky, moderately tannic, and long in the finish" Robert Parker 12 bottles per lot