Chateau Latour 2016

A tower on the Gironde

Chateau Latour sits at the southeastern tip of the commune of Pauillac in the Medoc, on the border with Saint-Julien and only a few hundred meters from the Gironde estuary. The site has been occupied since at least 1331, when a fortified tower, the Tor a Saint-Lambert, was built there. A garrison fort guarded the estuary during the Hundred Years' War and stayed in English hands until the Battle of Castillon in 1453, when French forces destroyed it. The original tower is gone. The round tower that stands on the estate today was built in the 1620s and was designed as a pigeon roost, yet it became the symbol of the vineyard.

Vines have grown on the site since the 14th century, and the wine was mentioned in Montaigne's Essays in the 16th century. By the early 18th century Latour had a reputation on export markets such as England alongside Lafite, Margaux and Pontac (Haut-Brion). In 1787 Thomas Jefferson, then the American minister to France, listed 'La Tour de Segur' among the vineyards of first quality. In 1855 Latour was named one of the four First Growths of the Medoc classification, and the present chateau was completed in 1864.

The heart of the estate is the Enclos, a 47-hectare block around the chateau. Only grapes from the Enclos go into the grand vin, and the block has changed little since 1794. The soils are deep gravel over rich clay, with more clay and marl at its northern and southern ends. Some of the oldest vines, all Cabernet Sauvignon in a parcel called Le Sarmentier, are reported to be more than 100 years old.

From the Segurs to Pinault

Latour passed through connected family ownership for centuries. Alexandre de Segur acquired it through marriage and added Lafite in 1716; his son Nicolas-Alexandre added Mouton and Calon-Segur. After the French Revolution part of the estate was auctioned off by the state in 1794, and it was not reunited until 1841. The family company, the Societe Civile de Chateau Latour, was formed in 1842.

In 1963 the heirs sold most of their shares to British interests, the Pearson group under Lord Cowdray. New managers Henri Martin and Jean-Paul Gardere modernized the estate, and Latour became the first of the First Growths to replace its old oak fermenting vats with temperature-controlled stainless steel. The second wine, Les Forts de Latour, was first made in 1966, and a third wine, simply called Pauillac, followed from 1989.

Allied Lyons took control in 1989. In 1993 the French businessman Francois Pinault bought Latour; one account gives the price as 86 million pounds, another as 131 million dollars. Pinault put the estate in the hands of Frederic Engerer, who took over its management in 1995. Engerer has recalled selling his first futures campaign, the 1994, at 28 euros a bottle. Helene Genin, who arrived in 2002 and has been technical director since 2014, oversaw the 2016, with Eric Boissenot as consultant.

The estate that stopped selling futures

Most top Bordeaux is sold en primeur, as futures, while the wine is still in barrel. In 2012 Latour announced it would leave that system. The 2011 was its last vintage sold as futures. From then on the estate held its wines back and released them in bottle when it judged them closer to drinking; the 2012, for example, was released in 2020. The estate now releases aged stock from its cellars each March and September.

The 2016 was due out in 2024. Instead the estate held it for an extra year in the cellar and released the 2017 first, judging that wine 'more open and accessible' at the time. The critic Jane Anson wrote that there was 'a clear logic to holding it back at the estate for almost a decade, allowing the first part of its ageing cycle to take place under fully controlled conditions.'

The 2016 went on sale on March 17, 2025, alongside Les Forts de Latour 2019 and Pauillac de Latour 2020. The release price was 470 euros a bottle ex-chateau, 540 euros ex-negociant, and 6,200 pounds for a case of 12 in the UK. Around 5,000 cases were released. Trade reporting at the time noted that this was slightly below the 2015's release price and that the wine came into a weak market for young Bordeaux: one London merchant said Latour's sales in 2024 had fallen about 40% from the year before.

2016: wet spring, dry summer

In Bordeaux, plenty of rain fell from January to March 2016 and the spring was damp, so the soils held good reserves of water. Flowering in early June was remarkably successful. Then came an extraordinarily dry summer: many areas saw only a tenth of their normal rainfall over the 12 weeks from June 23 to September 13. August was hot by day but cool at night. Heavy rain on the night of September 13 refreshed the vines, the weeks after were cooler with long dry spells, and Cabernet Sauvignon picking across the region began in the first week of October, with many estates waiting until the week of the 10th. Bordeaux brought in its largest crop in a decade.

Latour's 2016 grand vin is 92.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.1% Merlot, at 13.5% alcohol, aged in 100% new oak. Jeb Dunnuck reported that it was pulled from just 36% of the estate's total production. It was also made under the estate's organic regime: Latour had farmed the whole vineyard organically since August 2015 and applied biodynamic preparations on the Enclos, and its organic certification was issued in 2018. Reporting at the time called Latour the first of the First Growths to be certified organic for a red wine.

Critics came close to agreeing. Neal Martin and Antonio Galloni of Vinous, James Suckling, Jane Anson, Jeb Dunnuck, Decanter and Lisa Perrotti-Brown of The Wine Independent all scored it 100. Martin wrote that it 'can be uttered in the same breath as the 1900, 1924, 1959, 1961, 1982 and 2010,' and Suckling said it reminded him of the 1982 'in many ways.' Perrotti-Brown called the palate 'like an atomic bomb waiting to go off.' The dissent came from William Kelley of the Wine Advocate, who scored it 96+ and wrote that it seemed to be 'missing the purity and precision that one might expect for a first growth in a great 21st-century vintage.' Wine Spectator, tasting it in 2019, gave 98 and compared its balance to a Calder sculpture.

How much was made, and what it costs

The estate has 78 hectares under vine and about 900,000 vines. Figures for a normal year's grand vin differ by source: one reference gives about 18,000 cases, an investment firm 16,000 to 18,000, and a longtime chronicler of the estate 10,000 to 12,000 cases, or about 37% of the harvest. For the 2016, the only figure found is the roughly 5,000 cases put on the market at release; no source found gives the total number of bottles made.

Because the wine went straight from the chateau's cellars to market in 2025, bottles now in circulation have a short, documented route compared with futures-era vintages that changed hands while still in barrel. In October 2026 US retailers listed single 750 ml bottles at $965 and $925, and a six-bottle original wooden case at $5,600. These are asking prices, not sales.

The numbers

Vineyard

78 ha under vine; the grand vin comes only from the 47-ha Enclos

Vines

About 900,000 (estate figure)

2016 selection

About 36% of total production went into the grand vin

2016 released

Around 5,000 cases

Vinous

100 (Neal Martin and Antonio Galloni, early 2025)

James Suckling

100 (January 2025)

Jeb Dunnuck

100 (March 2025)

Jane Anson

100 (February 2025)

The Wine Independent

100 (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, December 2022)

Wine Advocate

96+ (William Kelley, February 2025)

Wine Spectator

98 (March 2019)

Timeline

1. 1331

   A fortified tower, the Tor a Saint-Lambert, is built on the site.

2. 1453

   After the Battle of Castillon the fort is destroyed by the forces of the King of France.

3. 1787

   Thomas Jefferson lists La Tour de Segur among Bordeaux's vineyards of first quality.

4. 1855

   Latour is named one of the four First Growths of the Medoc.

5. 1864

   The present chateau is completed.

6. 1963

   The Segur heirs sell most of their shares to the British Pearson group.

7. 1966

   Les Forts de Latour, the second wine, is first made.

8. 1993

   Francois Pinault buys Latour.

9. 1995

   Frederic Engerer takes over management of the estate.

10. 2008

    Horses are reintroduced to plough the vineyard.

11. 2012

    Latour stops selling its wine as futures; the 2011 is the last vintage sold that way.

12. Aug 2015

    The entire vineyard is managed organically from this date.

13. Jun 23, 2016

    Bordeaux's extraordinarily dry 12-week stretch begins, lasting to September 13.

14. Oct 2016

    Cabernet Sauvignon picking across Bordeaux begins in the first week of October.

15. Aug 2018

    Organic certification is issued for the vineyard and winery.

16. Mar 2019

    Wine Spectator scores the 2016 at 98 points.

17. Dec 2022

    Lisa Perrotti-Brown of The Wine Independent scores it 100.

18. 2024

    The 2016 is held back an extra year and the 2017 is released instead.

19. Mar 17, 2025

    The 2016 is released from the chateau at 470 euros a bottle ex-chateau, after perfect scores from Vinous, Jane Anson, James Suckling and others.

20. Jan 2026

    A ten-year retrospective from James Suckling's team again scores the 2016 at 100.

The world in 2016

• Jan 28, 2016

  The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.

• Jun 23, 2016

  The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.

• Jul 5, 2016

  NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter.

• Jul 14, 2016

  A truck attack during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France, kills 86 people.

• Aug 5, 2016

  The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro, the first Games held in South America.

• Sep 3, 2016

  The United States and China formally join the Paris climate agreement.

• Nov 2, 2016

  The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.

• Nov 8, 2016

  Donald Trump is elected president of the United States.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Chateau Latour 2016 is number 49 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (40 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The round tower that became Latour's emblem was built in the 1620s as a pigeon roost.
• Latour's wine was mentioned in Montaigne's Essays in the 16th century.
• Latour was the first of the First Growths to replace its oak fermenting vats with stainless steel, in the 1960s.
• The 2016 reached the market almost nine years after the harvest, and a year later than planned, because the estate wanted it to age longer in its own cellars.
• Since 2008 horses have ploughed parts of the vineyard; one account counts seven of them working the Enclos.
• Only about 36% of the estate's 2016 production made it into the grand vin.
• William Kelley, the one leading critic who broke from the chorus of 100s, wrote that his first reaction was to buy two more cases of the 2016 second wine.