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WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:48 am
by David M. Bueker
  • 1983 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (10/3/2013)
    Double decanted by the host, 3 hours prior to being served to us blid, this was a gorgeous bottle from first sip - the aromatics were full of leather, cedar, spice and lingering red fruits. The palate impression was rich and velvety with a lovely sweetness to the fruit. More of the tertiary character came through on the finish, as the fruit did fade rather fast past the mid palate, but each sip brought it all back. Later on at the unveiling we got to have a few more sips and it had continued to flesh out, such that it was even richer at the 5 hour mark. This is a lovely Latour to drink now, though I doubt it is going anywhere, any time soon.
  • 1975 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (10/3/2013)
    Also double decanted by the host, and served blind, this was clearly a partner to the '83 (poured earlier in teh same tasting), as it shared most of the aromatic characteristics, but had significantly less fruit. That being said, it was still an extremely enjoyable drinking experience, more about the cedary, tobacco elements than about fruit. There was a bit of fruit on the palate, but it was swiftly overcome by warm leather and a notably drying/tannic finish. This is a bottling to drink up in my opinion, as it's not going to improve - there's still tannin, and not really much fruit to back it up. Not so bad right now thouigh!

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:05 am
by Howie Hart
FWIW - I've been opening a bottle 1975 Lafite every 5 years since 1980 and I think it peaked in 2000, but the ones in 2005 and 2010 were still quite elegant.

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:19 am
by David M. Bueker
Yeah, I've had one a little more often than that recently, but I think you are right. It's has seen better days, but it still has some good days.

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:59 pm
by Jenise
Wow was somebody good to you!

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:04 pm
by David M. Bueker
There are still 3 older guys in my tasting group who bought these wines back when they cost a small fraction of current prices. The '75 had a sticker price of $22.99. The '83 was $42.99.

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:07 pm
by Jenise
Lucky you to know them. But didn't things remain pretty reasonable even up into the 90's, comparatively speaking? The first Latours I ever bought were purchased at Sokolin in NYC in 1994--on sale, half off, and under $20. I hardly understood Bordeaux then, but I knew that was a DEAL.

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:27 pm
by David M. Bueker
There was a big increase for '89 and '90. Things dropped with the 3 poor vintages in a row ('91-'93), but overall it really blew up in 1995.

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 2:30 pm
by Howie Hart
I paid $29.95 for my Lafite.

Re: WTN: The highest room, in the tallest tower

PostPosted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 2:58 pm
by David M. Bueker
Howie Hart wrote:I paid $29.95 for my Lafite.


Man, you got soaked! :mrgreen: :wink: