Chateau Latour

Latour lies at the very south-eastern tip of the commune of Pauillac in the .Médoc region to the north-west of Bordeaux, at its border with Saint-Julien

The chateau has a history that reaches far back to the 14th century. An imposing fort was erected to guard the estuary during the Hundred Years War and gave its name to the surrounding estate that has survived to the present day.

The fortress remained in English possession until the Battle of Castillion in 1453, when it was toppled by French forces. Though nothing remains of the original tower another was built in the 1620s – although this was intended solely as a pigeon roost! However, it uses the original edifice and is therefore a strong symbol for the estate.

Vines were fast planted in the 1300s and were praised for their quality, as described in the 16th century by Montaigne. Towards the end of the 1500s the estate’s scattered smallholdings were amalgamated by the de Mullet family.

From the 1670s the estate was in the hands of a single family until 1963 when it was acquired by the de Chavannes family before being passed through marriage to the Clauzel family in 1677. When Alexander de Ségur married Marie-Thérèse de Clauzel Latour became part of his massive property. His son, Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur, began producing wines of fantastic quality. By the early 1700s it’s reputation was secured in export markets such as England.

With Nicolas-Alandre Ségur’s death in 1755 the estate was divided among four daughters. During this time it was managed by a regisseur who was tasked with the intense administration of the estate’s affairs, while maintaining close contact with the owners. The wine’s quality benefited from this extra attention as previously the Ségur’s preferred Lafite. It became a firm favourite of Thomas Jefferson, then minister to France, who praised the vineyard’s superb quality.

The estate was carved up following the French Revolution, with various parts being auctioned off to numerous different owners. The resourceful Ségur’s eventually reunited the estate through a series of intense auctions. In 1855 it secured it’s prestigious position as one of the First Growths in the Classification of 1855.

In 1963 three-quarters of the estate’s shares were sold off to the Pearson Group, controlled by Lord Cowdray. Henri Martin and Jean-Paul Gardè were appointed managers and invested heavily in research, expansion of the vineyards and the replacement of oak-barrels with modern, temperature-controlled steel vats. The vineyards remained under their administration until 1987 after 24 years of hard-work and refinement.

In 1989 Latour was purchased by Allied Lyons but in 1993 returned once again to French ownership when bought by businessman Francois Pinault, becoming part of his holding company Groupe Artemis.

The estate has 78 hectares, 47 of which are dedicated to the grand vin. The composition of grape varieties is 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 18 percent Merlot and 2 percent of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Production is at around 18,000 cases a year.