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| Domaine Latour-Giraud | ||||||||||||||
But in the 1990s, with the arrival of the genial and perfectionist current winemaker, Jean-Pierre Latour, the estate has undergone what Le Review des Vins de France has called a "true cultural revolution." In a major commitment to improving quality, the estate invested in two new pneumatic presses, two new crusher-destemmers and temperature controlled tanks to chill the musts. Jean-Pierre upgraded the quality of his new barrel program and adopted lutte raisonnée, primarily organic agricultural practices, in the vineyards. He cut yields to 25-35 hectoliters per hectare and began working with Patrick Lesec in the 1994 vintage to master the art of non-interventionist winemaking. Since that time, the quality of Jean-Pierre's wines has improved virtually every year. For his white wines, Jean-Pierre ferments only free-run juice with wild, natural yeasts. The village wines are aged in one-quarter to one-third new barrels and the premier cru 40-70% new barrels depending on the character of the wine and the vintage. SO2 is used as little as possible, and Jean-Pierre relies on CO2 as an anti-oxidant. The wines are kept on their lees as long as possible and racking is kept to a minimum. The whites are fined, but not filtered, and bottled by hand. Unlike many other producers who bottle all their wines at once, Jean-Pierre carefully monitors each wine and bottles each when it is ready over the course of six months. Jean-Pierre's whites are classic white Burgundies: intense and concentrated, stylish and powerful, layered and balanced. They combine lemon-pear-quince-citrus fruits with the characteristic mineral qualities of the soil and layers of sweet vanilla oak and toast. At the same time the are lean, dry, focused and true to their appellation and vineyard site. Jean-Pierre's reds are all destemmed and go through cold maceration for five days. They are aged in 60-70% new barrels for one year on their lees. Racking is done just before hand bottling with no fining or filtering. As a group, Jean-Pierre's reds are very forward and appealing. They are juicy and expressive, saturated with loads of sweet, ripe red and black fruits and soft, round tannins. From the International Wine Cellar (Sep/Oct 2004): "It’s harder to find exceptional 2001s than 2000s; the wines can be harmonious but they’re smaller-scaled, and for earlier drinking than the 2000s," said Jean-Pierre Latour in early June. "The 2001s required a lot of work to retain the fruit and the freshness," he added. "We needed to keep the CO2 to maintain the freshness of the wines. They have good stuffing but less complexity and acidity than the 2000s, which are purer and more aromatically expressive. At some domains, a lot of the 2001s are developing too quickly. Latour’s young 2002s were quite promising at the end of May, showing quintessential Meursault aromatics, excellent precision of flavor thanks to sound acids, and considerable backbone for aging. The malos had mostly ended shortly before my visit, and Latour had stopped stirring the lees about a month earlier, deeming the wines sufficiently rich. .... By coincidence, I went directly from a visit with Jean-Philippe Fichet to see Jean-Pierre Latour across the street along the Route Nationale in Meursault. Both of these winemakers made wonderfully precise 2002s and both of them spoke at length about the challenges of vintage 2003, especially in the village of Meursault. Latour harvested much later than Fichet, however, waiting until September 1 to begin picking. "Some rain on the Friday night and Saturday morning before we started harvesting on Monday helped to invigorate the vines," he told me. "Before then our vines were just not ready to be harvested." Latour’s 2003s, not surprisingly, are rich in alcohol – as high as 14.5% for the premier crus. He has kept his cellar very cool to slow the development of the wines in barrel and was still stirring the lees every two weeks to enrich the wines. "The 2003s have concentration and purity," Latour maintains, "and therefore the wines merit a longer elevage." Latour presented me with samples from once-used barrels with a squirt of new-barrel juice added – a strategy he thought would provide the most accurate approximations of the ultimate blends." © International Wine Cellar From the The Wine Advocate, Issue 151 (Feb 2004): "Jean-Pierre Latour defines the 2002 vintage for white Burgundies as "tenderness plus fruit, like 1992 but with the freshness of 1996." He went on to add that he was "stupefied by the completeness of the 2002s. Analytically, they are like the 2000s, but tender, not square like the 2000s." Assiduous Wine Advocate readers may note that Latour’s Meursault Cromin does not appear in the above list of the estate’ wines. That is because Latour has opted to include it in his assemblage of the Meursault Cuvee Charles Maxime." © The Wine Advocate |
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