2005 Les Forts de Latour, Pauillac
SKU #1045395
94 points
James Suckling
Very classy with plenty of raspberry, currant, and licorice character. This is dense and compacted on the palate. Leave it for at least two or three years from now.
(4/2012)
94 points
Vinous
Open-knit yet deep and powerful, the 2005 Les Forts de Latour is striking today. The pedigree of the vintage comes through in spades. Expressive, perfumed aromatics meld into a core of supple, open-knit fruit in a mid-weight, impeccably balanced Forts de Latour. Hints of red fruit, iron, smoke and tobacco add lovely shades of nuance. Latour's President Frédéric Engerer adds that that 2005 was the easiest and most balanced growing season (including 2009 and 2010) he has seen because his team had the total flexibility of choosing when to harvest. (AG)
(7/2016)
94 points
Wine Spectator
Shows blackberry, coffee, cedar, and raisin on the nose, turning to licorice and fresh flowers. Full-bodied, with refined, silky tannins and a long finish. Balanced and juicy. Builds on the palate, with currant, licorice and mineral character, followed by a powerful finish. An amazing second wine. (JS)
(3/2008)
93 points
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Les Forts de Latour is another beautiful wine from this estate. Medium to full-bodied, with a dense ruby/purple color, loads of blackcurrant fruit, earth, and spice, the wine is extremely pure, broad, savory, and quite expensive. This is a fabulous second wine, but in essence, this is really of classified growth quality. Drink it over the next 20+ years. (RP)
(6/2015)
92 points
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
Good red-ruby. Exotic aromas of roasted plum, currant and graphite. Big, round and sweet but with the broad shoulders of the year. The silky flavors of currant, tobacco and sweet oak show extraordinary baby fat and volume. Wonderfully rich, expressive wine with a very long, silky, aromatic back end. 'Better than the 2007 Latour today, and almost as long,' says Engerer. (ST)
(5/2007)
92 points
Wine Enthusiast
Always the equivalent of many classed growths, Les Forts de Latour is hardly a second wine, deriving from a particular parcel of the Latour vineyard. This 2005 is beautifully balanced, with lively fresh acidity, dense tannins and ripe, juicy black fruits. The acidity stays right to the end. (RV)
(6/2008)
91 points
Wine & Spirits
It took four days after this bottle was first opened for the wine to shed the tough, reductive character in the tannin and begin to show the plump claret this will become with time. What initially feels dark, ripe and dry-as-a-drought turns toward juicy red and black currant fruit underlined by pleasantly bitter chocolate tannin. Les Forts is produced from the young vines at Latour's Grand Enclos (the main vineyard) from lots that do not make it into the first wine, plus selections from three other estate parcels.
(10/2008)
Decanter
Deep extraction of fragrant, floral small berry Cabernet fruit, both creamy and crunchy, fresh and exuberant, much more approachable than expected due to perfect ripeness, very fine. Drink 2012-25. 18/20 points
(4/2006)
Jancis Robinson
Will be released in September 2015. Very intense nose – massive concentration. Deep blackish ruby. Lift and minerals and pzazz. Very Latour. Very grown-up. Spicy and absolutely classic. 18/20 points
(7/2015)
K&L Notes
93 points Neal Martin's Wine Journal: "The Les Forts de La Tour 2005 has a more complex bouquet compared to the Petit Mouton, with blackberries, wild strawberry and floral scents that just blossom in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, almost symmetrical in the mouth with great precision and intensity towards the finish that gently caresses the mouth. There is a tang of soy on the aftertaste that imparts a sense of tension, an edginess, completing a bona fide classy Deuxième Vin built for the long-term." (02/2015)
