Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Still youthfully ruby/plum-hued, the 2010 Château Latour A Pomerol has a terrific nose of darker cherry and currant fruits intermixed with new saddle leather, dried flowers, and spice-like nuances. I love its overall complexity, and it's medium to full-bodied on the palate, with sweet tannins, a supple, layered mouthfeel, and a beautiful sense of minerality on the finish.
-
James Suckling
Gorgeous nose with strawberries, toasted hazelnuts and milk chocolate. Black currant, sweet licorice and lots of flowers. Great fruit and full body on the palate with a structure that just keeps adding layers of fruit and minerals. Very silky tannins and wonderful intense finish. It's about great harmony in this wine. Best Latour a Pomerol in years.
-
Wine Spectator
Dark and loamy, with fig bread and ganache out front, followed by steeped fig, pastis-soaked plum and Black Forest cake notes, all layered and backed by a long, licorice and graphite-filled finish. Offers more than enough fruit and acidity to soak up the abundant toast. For fans of the big style. Best from 2015 through 2030.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Elegant loamy soil notes intermixed with sweet cherries as well as hints of underbrush, mocha and mulberry jump from the glass of this pure, medium to full-bodied, dense wine, which possesses good glycerin, flesh and richness. It should drink nicely for up to 15 years.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Solidly based on its firm tannins, this is an impressive wine. Acidity and blackberry fruits are sewn together by the tannic structure. There is a touch of minerality as well, lending the wine to the promise of long-term aging.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.