Louis Latour, Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
2019, Bourgogne, France
Classification Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
Colour / Type White
Bottle size 75cl
Alcohol 13%
Grape Chardonnay
Drinking window 2026
Average score 94
Formal establishment of today s family brand which buys, trades and makes wine, accumulating 48 prime hectares of vineyards, happened in 1797. Seven generations of Latour s, and hence the survival of the name, steered the firm to make great white wines. The vineyards of Corton have been Latour s most famous. And after the phylloxera vine ravage of the Corton-Charlemagne in the 1870s for 30 years, the Latours took the odd step of replanting the common aligote variety and pinot noir, with chardonnay. This appellation produces some of the greatest chardonnays in all Burgundy. Part of the success of Corton-Charlemagne from this maker is their differing approach to barrels. Since 1898, Latour has made its own barriques (2500 of 228 litres). Even more remarkable is that just one type of barrel is made; medium toast firing of a secret oak supplied from a blend of forests. Moxon Oak imports and sells hundreds of these barrels to Australian winemakers. And now local winemaking technocrats may buy Latour wines made with the same oak they and Louis Latour use; currently, the 2015 vintage is available. Uncorked tour guests tasted Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne 2014 at Corton Grancey winery in 2016; far more restrained yet oak is aniseed-like, the fruit is shyer from the vintage conditions, and flavour not as broad or orange-creme as a riper year.
About Maison Leroy
In 1988 Lalou Bize-Leroy purchased the Domaine Charles N ellat in Vosne Roman e and renamed it Domaine Leroy, which included the buildings and cellars which are now the domaine s headquarters, and a wonderful array of vineyards including Richebourg, Roman e St Vivant, Clos de Vougeot, premier crus Vignerondes and Boudots in Nuits and Beaumonts and Brul es in Vosne. The following year further vineyards were purchased from Domaine Philippe Remy, including Clos de la Roche, Latrici res-Chambertin, and Le Chambertin, while further holdings have been added since. The domaine has been farmed biodynamically from the start and is now certified by ECOCERT. This minimizes entrecoeurs and second crop bunches forming, as well as leaving the vine happier and healthier. Domaine Leroy was among the first to start using horses to plough the vines, but managing the artisans who own and operate the horses proved insurmountable. Lalou Bize-Leroy has 23 hectares of vines, mostly Premier and Grand Cru classified. Domaine Leroy is blessed with a heritage of ancient vines, in part because Lalou Bize-Leroy never grubs up and replants. Instead, she replaces individual missing vines, from her own cuttings, but never too many at once in a given vineyard. These old vines combined with her training and pruning policy, restricting the bunches to just four per vine, explain in part the concentration of Leroy wines. The average yield across appellations and vintages at Domaine Leroy is around 16 hl/ha. After rigorous deselection on the sorting tables, which employ as many people as there are pickers, the grapes are placed, stemmed and all, in wooden fermenting vats. After fermentation, the wines are matured in new barrels from Cadus and Fran ois Fr res.