|
THE VINTAGE 2007
·
Weather conditions
Winter
was marked by warm weather conditions until the end of
January with temperatures below
-4°C
during a few days.
February
was very wet, rainfall was over 165mm.
The first buds of merlot appeared on March
8. From March 20, temperatures decreased and
slowed down the budding.
The beautiful weather in April (
24°C
on average with peak at
35°C
on the 23 and 24) encouraged the vegetation to grow
fast and intensively. At that point we were 10
days earlier than 2006.
May
was generally rainy and cold. Flowering
began on May
14. We noticed heterogeneous levels throughout the
vineyard, especially marked on the outside plots of
l’Enclos. The development of the Cabernet was
virtually the same as that of the Merlot.
The
véraison on the first bunches was on July
13. The progression of the véraison remained
uneven and due to the changes in temperatures it went
through periods of stop and go.
We
noticed the mid-véraison on August
2, as in 2006.
The
climatic conditions in June, July and August
alternated between humidity, rain and heat and this
favoured the development of mildew.
In
total if the rainfall in June and July was the same as
the average of the last 30 years, May and August had
both more than doubled normal levels.
A
heavy rain of
43 mm
on August 29 made us feel quite pessimistic.
But
thanks to the perfect climate in September, the
ripeness from one plant to another was nearly balanced
out.
That
period was very beneficial to the quality of the
harvest this year:
-
The rainfall was low especially the first 20 days,
-
The weather was sunny with high temperatures in the
day and cool at night.
Summary of the
phenological stages – 2007 vintage
|
Phenological stages
|
Dates
|
|
Budding
|
March
10
|
|
Mid-flowering
|
May
15
|
|
Mid-veraison
|
August
2
|
·
The harvest in 2007
We
started the harvest under a lovely sunshine, on the September
20 with young vines.The next day we picked the
first merlots on the Petit Faure and the Trillots
plots.The Merlots were all picked between September
21 and October 2.
On September 22, after a heavy rain of
12 mm
, the risk of botrytis was evident and from October
4 we had to start again on some cabernet sauvignon
plots.
A
lovely late season helped us to progress serenely and
spread the harvests during 4 weeks, in order to obtain
the best maturity as possible on each plot of
Cabernet Sauvignon.
The
harvest ended on October 15.
In conclusion the harvest 2007 took place in good
climatic conditions. The botrytis was visible but very
limited to some plots and perfectly removed thanks to
the sorting in the vineyard.
The first tastings after alcoholic fermentation show a
good palette of aromas still discreet but beautiful
tannic texture, rich, soft with lovely structure.
·
First
tasting notes
First
of all what we notice during the tasting of our three
wines is the generosity, the maturity and the richness
of the tannins. Even if 2007 will probably not be a
wine with long ageing potential, it is finally a very
good vintage, lacking perhaps some strength to be in
the great vintage league.
The Pauillac
is fleshy, round, silky and can be drunk after 5 years
with a lot of pleasure.
Les Forts de Latour are much more concentrated and structured,
with suave tannin, a precise and fine structure.
Lovely balance with a persistent finish.
This year there is in the Grand
Vin a fragment of very charming fruit, pure and
very flavoursome at the same time, keeping the soft
and fine tannin, without being over-ripe or unbalanced.
Considering a less pronounced tannic structure this
year, the Grand Vin can support a quantity of press
wine much more important than usual (15% against 6-8%
on average the last ten years) and we must go back to
1999 to find the same level.
The press wine increases and give richness and
strength, keeping the wine’s elegance and
freshness-leading to the typical characteristics of a
“Latour”.
This
wine is situated on quality and style between 1999 and
2004.
|
