A young wine that electrifies every taste bud in your mouth. Compacted aromas of crushed currants and minerals with roses and lilacs. Full-bodied with masses of silky refined tannins and a finish that lasts for minutes. Stunning. Best Latour since 1990. Best after 2012. 14165 cases made. –JS

There are only 14000 cases (only 48% of the crop made it into the grand vin) of the 2000 which flirts with perfection. Truly great stuff it reveals perfect equilibrium great finesse yet colossal size with a thickness and density that rival the brilliant 1996. This saturated black ruby/purple colored wine seems almost discreet on first inspection but with aeration notes of vanilla exceptionally pure mineral-infused creme de cassis and earth emerge. Full-bodied and tannic it should come close to representing perfection. Latour's 2000 is hard to compare with previous vintages. It obviously does not have the opulence of the 1990 and 1982 yet there is an extraordinary purity delineation seamlessness and freshness to this wine that sets it apart from previous vintages. In any event it is prodigious with at least five decades of evolution ahead of it. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2050.