TN: 1982 Château Latour à Pomerol (France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol)

[Roberto]

• 1982 Château Latour à Pomerol - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol (3/4/2009)
  Wow. Blinded I would have thought this was the '82 Petrus or Lafleur. The wine took about an hour to get going in the decanter. When it woke the nose offered up wet leather, cigar box, cedar, licorice and tar. In the mouth this wine had great balance and deep, ripe black fruit with a long, lingering finish. I got notes of sweet licorice on the palate, too. As the wine sat in the decanter it kept putting on weight and sweetness in the mid-section. The ripe tannins added strength to the wine but were not obtrussive. While not as heavy as port texturally, it did have a fruit profile that I would associate with other classic right bank wines that use that descriptor. This wine has many years ahead of it but is drinking great now. (97 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Nicklasss]

Thanks for reporting Roberto. That 1982 Pomerol seems fabulous. This is the best thing, when you're tasting a wine that could be Petrus or Lafleur, but it is ''only'' Latour a Pomerol but, is highly enjoyable, sometimes even more than the great ones...

Nic

[stefan]

1982 Latour a Pomerol is indeed a great wine. Unfortunately, we (mostly HM$ and I) finished off my last bottle at BWE-Sonoma.

stefan

[PappaDoc]

82 Latour a Pomerol was a wine I had always wanted to drink. My wish was fulfilled at BWE 03 when One of our BWE Sisters or Bretheren brought a btl and placed it on a table to try.

Does anyone remember who brought the 82 Latour a Pomerol to BWE 03, it was sooo special? Was it you Roberto?

I have a couple of 98 Latour a Pomerol which had excellent reviews on release but then closed down. I read recently that the 98 has re-opened and is singing like Ella Fitzgerald. Perhaps time to try another 98.

[Roberto]

Dear BWE:

I should note that I shared this bottle along with '99 Raveneau Valumr, '85 Bachelet Charmes and '76 Bollinger at dinner with Joe Belmaati last night. I will share more from this memorable dinner soon.

Pappa, I did not bring the '82 LAP in the past. Funny, but I had this wine blind (the '82 LAP) a few years ago at a comprehensive '82 Bordeaux horizontal and had it in the same blinded flight with the '82 Petrus and '82 Lafleur and I preferred the LAP! That is the fun of tasting blind I guess. I finally sourced a good OWC case and this was my first bottle. I am a happy man! I have had my share of failures in this regard in the past, too. I'm going to see Ben in a few days, also. I'm sure you will hear the 'Chatter'.

Stefan, I think the '82 LAP is a wonderful example of a truely great wine that has been missed by the traditional critical press. I gave a glass of this wine to the former Somm. from the French Laundry last night who happend to be in attendance and he felt it was as good as the '61 LAP, just younger. He added that the '61 LAP is the best Bordeaux he has ever had. Please discount all of this but I think it does add some weight to the BWE process of actually tasting wines and not following the Parker Herd all of the time. Before I get flamed for that comment I was part of that Herd for many years!

Roberto.

[Roberto]

Nic,

Thanks for your insight which is sage as usual. I hope all is well.

Roberto

[sdr]

82 Latour a Pomerol was a wine I had always wanted to drink. My wish was fulfilled at BWE 03 when One of our BWE Sisters or Bretheren brought a btl and placed it on a table to try.

Does anyone remember who brought the 82 Latour a Pomerol to BWE 03, it was sooo special?

OK, I confess, it was me. But I gave the bottle to Emil (where is he anyway?) who graciously gave up his seat at one of the tables so I could sit next to my wife.

I always thought is was good, but I didn't know it would become that good and I don't have any more

~stuart

[Roberto]

Stuart,

I wonder if this is a case where storage issues might be at play here. I've really not heard of people loving the wine like I did outside of my local tasting circle. I know of a few other very experienced tasters who have my take on the wine. Perhaps there was some issue with different barrels or batches or something like that.

I just said goodbye to Joe Belmaati. He said he'll check in on this thread later and give some insight.

Roberto

[JimHow]

I just said goodbye to Joe Belmaati.

Oh, what is he too good to hang out with the rest of us plebians?

Thanks for the great note on this wine, Bob, I think we had the '98 Latour a Pomerol at the DC '07 convention and we must have had some version of the wine at Chicago '04 with the "Latour" theme.

When are we doing our VLT?

[Roberto]

Oh, what is he too good to hang out with the rest of us plebians?

Jim, this seems mean-spirited to me.

Roberto

[JimHow]

It was intended to be sarcastic, yes, Bob, mean-spirited would be a bit strong. Frankly, I'm more interested in hearing about what active BWEers are doing-- those who are working to make this a successful site (because, after all, it takes more than a half dozen or so regulars to make it successful)-- than what past members with whatever issues they have are doing. If people want to come here and participate on BWE, then I'm interested in hearing about their lives. If not, then they are sentimental memories to me. I'm just here to post notes about Chateauneuf du Pape, and the '05 Burgundy vintage, and plan for DC '09, etc., etc....