2014 Les Forts de Latour Pauillac 1st Classified Growth

The 2014 Les Forts de Latour is a blend of 71.4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28.6% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it needs a little coaxing to reveal expanding scents of blackcurrant pastilles, baked plums and boysenberries with suggestions of wood smoke, fragrant earth, cast-iron pan and charcuterie plus a faint waft of black truffles. Medium-bodied, the earthy/savory palate has loads of lively black fruit with a refreshing line and firm, grainy tannins, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. ~93 Robert Parker

The 2014 Les Forts de Latour is one of those wines that deserves an hour to open and then observe it coalescing in the glass. The bouquet is initially high-toned and then mellow to reveal attractive scents of red fruit, cedar and incense. The palate is maybe a more malleable than I anticipated, clearly a Les Forts that is primed for drinking, although there is sufficient depth to suggest that it will give 15 years of pleasure, maybe more. Suave and surprisingly rounded for a 2014, this is a fine late released Deuxième Vin from the First Growth although I uphold my remark in my previous notes that I would have liked more Pauillac DNA. Tasted from ex-château bottle. ~93 Vinous Media

Packed with the fruit of the vintage, this wine is bright and crisp. Its acidity and pure black-currant flavors are delicious, juicy, the tannins now sitting easily in the background. The wine, which comes from a specific parcel, is developing well and will be released after 2020. It should be drunk from 2023. ~93 Wine Enthusiast