Château LATOUR

By the start of the 18th century, the wine of Château Latour was recognized around the world. The aristocracy and other wealthy consumers loved wines from the top chateaux, of which Château Latour was considered one of the best in the Médoc. That was how Thomas Jefferson, Ambassador of the United States to France and future President of the United States discovered the vineyard in 1787. Even then, Château Latour was an expensive wine. The price of Latour in its day was selling more for more than twenty times as much as one of ordinary Bordeaux wines.

The existing château was built between 1862 and 1864. Jumping to the next century, in 1963, the heirs of the Marquis de Segur sold most of their remaining shares in Château Latour.The new shareholders became Harveys of Bristol and Hallminster Limited, both British Limited Companies. Hallminster Limited belonged to the Pearson Group, and held more than 50% of the shares of Château Latour. They kept the 120-year-old name of Societe Civile du Vignoble de Château Latour. At the time of the purchase, it was clear to everyone that the property needed major renovations in the cellars and the vineyard required extensive replanting.

In 1963 Château Latour expanded their vineyards by 12.5 hectares. They planted two additional plots just outside the “Enclos,” vineyard, which was owned by the property since 1850. This is the source of Les Forts de Latour. In 1968 improvements were made to the vineyard’s drainage system. The wine-making facilities were also renovated. Château Latour’s Grand Vin is made exclusively from “vieilles vignes”, an average of 60 years-old, in the Enclos. Gravettes, Sarmentier, Pièce de Château... these are the names of some of the finest plots that express the character of the terroir and forge the wine’s identity every year.

In 1989, Allied Lyons, already the owner of 25% of the shares of Château Latour bought Pearson’s shares as well as those remaining in the hands of some individual owners to become the majority owner. In July 1993 they sold all their shares of Château Latour to François Pinault for 131 million dollars. The price turned out to be one of the great deals for a château in the history of Bordeaux as the stock in the cellars alone was rumoured to be worth close to 60 million dollars at the time. The next important decision made by Francois Pinault turned out to be equally savvy when he decided to hire Frederic Engerer. Frederic Engerer was already familiar with the Pinault family, as both Engerer and the son of Francois Pinault, François-Henri Pinault attended the same university. Since Frederic Engerer took over management of the property in 1995, things have never been better.