Les Forts de Latour 1996 - 3bots 750mlx3

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Wine Advocate #227, 29th Oct 2016
The 1996 Les Forts de Latour has a deep garnet color with just a thin rim of bricking on the rim. The bouquet is fully mature but demonstrated good fruit concentration after 20 years, mulberry, red plum, plenty of cloves and an almost garrigue-like scent. The palate does not quite have the charm of the nose, the tannins a little brusque and perhaps compared to this deuxième vin nowadays, without the finesse and then it just tapers towards a cedar-infused finish. Drink bottles now and over the next 10 years.

The site has been occupied since at least 1331 when Tor Saint-Lambert was built by Gaucelme de Castillon, and the estate dating to at least 1378. A garrison fort was built 300 metres from the estuary to guard against attack during the Hundred Years' War. The tower, the name mutating with time to La Tour en Saint-Mambert and Saint-Maubert, gave its name to the estate around the fortress and was in English hands until the Battle of Castillon in 1453, and its complete destruction by the forces of the King of France. The original tower no longer exists, but in the 1620s a circular tower (La Tour de Saint-Lambert) was built on the estate named after Simon Ledwidge and though it is actually designed as a pigeon roost, it remains a strong symbol of the vineyard. Though two centuries apart, this building is said to have been constructed using the original edifice.
From 1670 began a lineage of connected family ownership of the de Mullet family not broken until 1963, when the estate was acquired by the de Chavannes family, and passed by marriage to the de Clauzel family in 1677. When Alexandre de Segur married Marie-Therese de Clauzel, Latour became a part of his vast property, to which he also added Chateau Lafite in 1716, just prior to his death. In 1718 his son Nicolas-Alexandre de Segur added Chateau Mouton and Chateau Calon-Segur to his holdings and began producing wines of great quality. The widespread reputation of Latour emerged at the beginning of the 18th century when its status was established on export markets such as England, alongside chateaux Lafite, Margaux and Pontac.
With the death of Nicolas-Alexandre Segur in 1755 the estate was divided among four daughters, three of whom inherited Latour in 1760, and with absent landlords, Latour was managed by a regisseur charged with efficient administration and thorough correspondence with the owners. Receiving more care than under the late owner whose favourite had been Lafite, Latour improved in the later half of the century, and later became a favourite of Thomas Jefferson, then minister to France, when he categorised La Tour de Segur as a vineyard of first quality in 1787.
With the onset of the French Revolution, the property became divided. The Comte de Segur-Cabanac fled France and his portion was auctioned off by the state in 1794, passing through several owners. The estate was not reunited until 1841, when the family succeeded in a plot to put the estate up for sale, and eventually emerged after an auction having regained the 20% shares owned by negociants Barton, Guestier and Johnston. The Societ Civile de Chateau Latour was formed in 1842, exclusive to the family, who then had become shareholders.

Meats, Beef and Venison