Notes from a wine dinner:

Started with a bottle of the Segura Viudas Lavit Brut Rosado for the early
arrivals, and went on to:

1999 Burrowing Owl Chardonnay - I skipped this vintage as I didn't like it on
release. I would have been disappointed to find that the duck had become a
swan, but no problem, as this wine showed little nose, although remaining fresh
and inoffensive. Definitely didn't get in the way of the conversation.

1982 Louis Latour Corton Grancey - from magnum, and in fine shape. Lovely
garnet colour with ruby lights, the nose a fruit based Burgundian delight, and
on palate smooth and sweet with excellent length. This wine kept getting better
with time in the glass.

1970 Ch. Latour (from magnum) - this has to be one of my favourite Bordeaux,
and this bottle was in absolutely great shape, as one would expect given the
bottle format. A basically perfect Bordeaux nose of mellow mature fruit, some
cocoa, some spice, some vanilla…..ahhhhhh. On palate, the fist was still in
the velvet glove, for the tannins are prominent if no longer as hard as before,
nor at all intrusive. The element that sets this wine apart from the 1970
Montrose, another of my favourites, is that the Montrose is boisterous and a
bit rustic, while the Latour has all of the power (and then some) of the
Montrose, yet it manages to be polished and elegant at the same time. Superb
balance, and the finish was at least a minute long.


1977 Warres Port - this has always drunk better sooner than the other major
players in this excellent vintage, but it has also made me wonder whether it
was very slightly lacking or possibly peaked - not every time, but just the odd
bottle would put such thoughts in my mind. This one was very good, however, a
fully mature vintage Port with such well integrated fruit, only a little hot
and with a decent length. It may be time for me to start drinking some of my
stash.

I am glad that you liked the 70 Latour, because I have several bottles.
I probably have had more Bordeaux reds from 1970 than from any other
vintage. Just about everyone ranks the 70 Latour very highly. You
probably would have to go back to 1961 to find a better one. The auction
houses also like the 70 Latour. In the December issue of decanter, I
find that a case of Latour 70 goes for about 3520 Pounds in London,
while the other first growths run around 709 to 814 Pounds. Petrus is
more expensive at about 6050 Pounds, and Le Pin was not listed. When I
bought my Latour shortly after release, it was no more expensive than
some of the other first growths, but it has been quite expensive for
many years now. It is very likely that the 70 Latour will still be in
good form after many of us are gone.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase
from my email address. Then add . I do not
check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

When I
bought my Latour shortly after release, it was no more expensive than
some of the other first growths

It seems to go for $4-500 a bottle in the US.

The bottle we drank, a magnum, went for $14.40 Can. on release in Montreal in
the early 70s.........