Latour built much of its reputation on bad years. In great vintages every first growth performs; what set this estate apart through the twentieth century was what it managed in the wet ones, when its old Cabernet vines on the gravel bank beside the Gironde still gave something dark and structured while neighbours made thin wine.
1968 was one of those wet ones, among the weakest post-war vintages in Bordeaux. Latour picked what it had in the Enclos, the walled vineyard around the tower that appears on every label, and made a wine that stayed firm and unyielding for years afterwards.
Fifty-eight years later the tannin will have settled and the wine will be at its most fragile. This is a first growth from a specific autumn, offered plainly: not a great wine, but an authentic one, and the tower on the label is the same tower that has stood at Saint-Lambert since the seventeenth century.
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Producer: Château Latour
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Vintage: 1968
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Appellation: Pauillac AOC
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Format: 75cl
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Region: Bordeaux, France
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Style: Red
Where it is likely to be now. A poor vintage now at the end of its life, though Latour's density means it is more likely than most 1968s to still have something to say.
Who it suits. A first growth for a 58th birthday, where the buyer wants a name that carries weight regardless of what the vintage charts say.
Condition. The merchant records the bottle as good; we check the fill height, capsule and cork here before the bottle ships.
Provenance. Bought to order from a professional European merchant. We check fill, label and capsule when the bottle reaches us and photograph it before it ships.
Delivered in 7 to 10 working days, tracked. Transit cover can be added at checkout.
Sold as a collectible item, as seen. No guarantee is given on drinkability.
