2006 Maison Louis Latour, Montrachet Grand Cru

The 2006 Montrachet (from purchased grapes) is the ripest and most exotic wine in this year’s Latour collection. Musk, lily, and over-ripe peach and pear aromas usher in a sumptuous, creamy, yet juicy palate. The finish here preserves all of the decadent floral and over-ripe fruit character while introducing an intensely pungent amalgam of citrus zest, toasted nuts, wood smoke, and crushed stone. As with this year’s Chevalier Demoiselles, there is a bit of heat here but it does not seriously intrude nor preclude clarity in the finish. Louis-Fabrice Latour and oenologue Jean-Charles Thomas presented a 2006 collection that displayed the opulent richness that one would anticipate from such a ripe vintage, and from the Latour house style. Sometimes these wines want a bit for clarity, definition and distinctiveness – occasionally they are rather obviously marked by dairy flavors from their malolactic conversion – but the best of them have much to offer. Since I did not have opportunity to include in my issue 179 report notes on the Chablis bottlings of Simmonet-Febvre – a domaine Latour purchased in 2003 (and which also bottles some lovely sparkling wines) – I have made note of them here. Louis Latour has numerous importers throughout the U.S.

Wine Advocate December, 2008 The 2006 Montrachet (from purchased grapes) is the ripest and most exotic wine in this year’s Latour collection. Musk, lily, and over-ripe peach and pear aromas usher in a sumptuous, creamy, yet juicy palate. The finish here preserves all of the decadent floral and over-ripe fruit character while introducing an intensely pungent amalgam of citrus zest, toasted nuts, wood smoke, and crushed stone. As with this year’s Chevalier Demoiselles, there is a bit of heat here but it does not seriously intrude nor preclude clarity in the finish.