Château Latour--Vintage 2000

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CHATEAU LATOUR 78 Hectares: 80 Cabernet Sauvignon; 15 Merlot; 5 Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc Production: 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" which is located near the boundary with St-Julien and Léoville Las Cases in the north and stretches to near Haut-Bages-Libéral. Only the grapes from these 47 hectares make it into the Grand Vin de Château Latour. The soils vary from 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; however 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, and 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."

12 bottles per lot

Details

Château Latour--Vintage 2000
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
Tasting Note: Lovely colour, deep, velvety; delicious nose, sweet, spicy, forthcoming, almost caramelly richness packed with fruit; lovely flavour and balance, tannic. Great future. Last tasted May 2006 (*****) 2012- 2030. M.B.
12 bottles per lot

Special notice

ParcelWineBuyers from within the EU: VAT payable at 17.5% on just the buyer's premium (NOT the hammer price) Buyers from outside the EU: VAT payable at 17.5% on hammer price and buyer's premium. If a buyer, having registered under a non-EU address, decides that an item is not to be exported from the EU, then he/she should advise Christie's to this effect immediately. Please note that all the lots in this Sale are offered in Bond Only. UK Excise duty, Clearance VAT and delivery charges will not be included on any Sale invoices. Should you require your purchases to be delivered to a UK mainland address duty paid, we can arrange for the applicable UK Customs and delivery charges to be invoiced to you separately. For more information please contact Shona McIntosh or Antonia Essex in the Wine dept. smcintosh@christies.com aessex@christies.com

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