Winemaker Notes
This Chambertin Grand Cru Cuvée Héritiers Latour 2016 has a beautiful garnet colour. The nose is complex with almond, nutmeg and also flowers. With a full-bodied and powerful mouth, this Chambertin reveals spicy and fruity notes.
Pair with venison stew, roasted deer with pepper and mashed celery, or Soumaintrain cheese.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
There’s a pretty massive tannin structure behind this concentrated and muscular wine, which needs a lot more time. But it’s so vibrant right now. Try to wait at least until 2020. If you can wait five years then this will surely be even more exciting.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chambertin Grand Cru Cuvée Heritiers Latour is the most reserved of the Louis Latour reds I tasted from bottle, unfurling reluctantly in the glass to reveal notions of spicy berry fruit, peony, orange rind and savory nuances of forest floor. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a sappy core of fruit, fine but youthfully chewy tannins and a long, sapid finish. An open bottle continued to improve for over a week, making my initial rating seem conservative, so I'm convinced that patience will be rewarded.
-
Wine Spectator
Bursting with ripe, succulent cherry, licorice, smoke and spice flavors, this is marked by oak now yet has the requisite fruit underneath. Comes together on the finish, where the black cherry fruit, oak spice element and mineral notes mingle. Best from 2023 through 2043.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Louis Latour Chambertin Cuvée Héritiers Latour is bold, firm and lasting on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with aromas and flavors of black fruit, licorice, and oak. Try it with a thick and juicy cut of prime rib. (Tasted: July 1, 2021, San Rafael, CA)
Maison Louis Latour is one of the most highly-respected négociant-éléveurs in Burgundy. Maison Louis Latour is the producer of some of the finest Burgundian wines but has also pioneered the production of fine wines from outside Burgundy's confines. These wines from the Ardèche and the Côteaux de Verdon are slowly gaining esteem for their unmatchable quality outside Burgundy.
All the grapes from the vineyards owned by the Latour family are vinified and aged in the attractive cuverie of Chateau Corton Grancey in Aloxe-Corton. The winery was the first purpose-built cuverie in France and remains the oldest still functioning. A unique railway system with elevators allows the entire wine-making process to be achieved by the use of gravity. This eliminates the threat of oxidation from unnecessary pumping of the must. Since 1985, Louis Latour has been selling the wines of its own vineyards under the name Domaine Louis Latour.
Louis Latour has been a leader in environmentally responsible winemaking for over 15 years. Louis Latour has had ISO 14001 accreditation for Environmental Management Systems since 2003 and has been part of the European association FARRE since 1998- a group of like-minded companies who seek to develop and promote sustainable methods of agriculture.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
This small village is home to the Grands Crus in the farthest northerly stretches of Côte de Nuits and is famous for some of the deepest and firmest Burgundian Pinot Noir.
Gevrey boasts nine Grands Crus, the best of which are arguably Le Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. As with all of the fragmented vineyards of Burgundy, it isn’t easy to differentiate between the two, which are situated adjacent with Clos de Bèze slightly further up the hill than Le Chambertin. Clos de Bèze has a shallower soil and if you’re really counting, may produce wines less intense but more likely to charm. Some compare Le Chambertin in both power and plentitude only to the prized Romanée-Conti Grand Cru farther south in Vosne-Romanée.
Two other Grands Crus vineyards, Mazis-Chambertin (also written Mazy-) and Latricières-Chambertin command almost as much regard as Le Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. The upper part of Mazy, called Les Mazis Haut is the best and Latricières-Chambertin offers an abundance of juicy fruit and a silky texture in the warmer vintages.
Other Grands Crus are Ruchottes-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Mazoyères-Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin and Chapelle-Chambertin.
The most respected Pinot Noir wines from Gevrey-Chambertin are robust and powerful but at the same time, velvety and expressive: black fruit, black liquorice and chocolate come into play. After some time in the bottle, the wines are harmonious with bright and sometimes candied fruit, and aromas of musk, truffle and forest floor. These have staying power.