1996 Les Forts de Latour Pauillac

1996 Les Forts de Latour Pauillac

To clear off some myth, Les Forts de Latour is not a second wine, as the grapes come from a specific part of the Latour vineyard, rather than the disqualified grapes from their Grand Vin. The Grand Vin Latour was awarded by Robert Parker a score of 99 numerous times, and I had the great pleasure to drink it on multiple occasions. Was it reminiscent to the grand vin? Unfortunately, not this vintage. Bouquet started off with very strong vegetal character, but quickly disappeared over time, replaced with vanilla and smoke. Body was a bit contradictory, at any given stage, it was quite drinkable, but it also possessed very dry and unresolved tannins at certain stage. I believe the drinkable portion was due to it’s high Merlot content of about 30% (1996 was poor Merlot vintage), while the not so ready portion was due to the Cabernet Sauvignon (1996 was a great vintage for Paulliac). I guess the outcome was somehow duo characters. You can drink and enjoy the wines now, but you can also have the pleasure to age it for another decade or longer to enjoy the wine as it will certainly develop more tertiary flavor.