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‘Monumental’ Château Latour 2009 re-released

18 September 2024 By Arabella Mileham

1,000 cases of Château Latour’s “monumental” 2009 vintage have been re-released by the estate onto the market – although prices are at a premium to wines already available on the market.

The final limited release of 12,000 bottles have been been offered at €840 per bottle ex-château, or €910 ex-négociant, with the wines being offered internationally at £11,100 per case of 12.

The 2009 vintage is one that almost approaches legendary status, with “monumental” wines on the back of a “glorious” growing season. Volumes and value sales during the subsequent en campaign (this was before Latour withdrew from the en primeur system in 2012) went through the roof and even after the market fell in 2011, the 2009 continued to accrue a premium.

A parcel of the 2009 Latour was last released in 2020, at €860, at a premium over its original 2010 release price of €770. According to Liv-ex, this week’s release is 5.8% above the ex-négociant release price of the 2020 release, and 18.2% above the original en primeur release price. It is also around 16% above the current market price for the 2009, Liv-ex said, at £9,480 per case of 12 – although it noted that the wine last traded at £8,602 per case.

As a result, it argued that it was “hard hard to see how today’s release price could offer end consumers value, regardless of what a reasonable ex-château premium might be.”

Nevertheless, the limited number of bottles releases (just 1000 cases) and the undoubted quality of the wine could see buyers tempted

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at international merchant Bordeaux Index, said the release was at a 15% premium to the prevailing market price.

“A suitable ex-château premium is a difficult topic for wine at this age (neither old nor recently released) especially in a subdued market as we have at present,” he told db, adding that “the release has seen some interest so far.”

Critics score have generally been very high, with Lisa Perrotti Brown MW of Wine Independent awarding it 100 points in March this year, calling it “flat-out delicious right now” but something that “promises to reward the patient”. This was a fraction above the 98 point score given by Vinous’ Neal Martin in December 2019, although he called it “an extraordinarily beautiful Latour”, noting its great focus, and “impressive salinity on the finish that lingers nicely.”

Even back in 2010, Robert Parker of Wine Advocate upped its score to 100 points from his en premeur barrel score of 98-100 calling it “one of the most monumental Latour’s ever made”. At the time of the release, db reported that Michael Schuster of The World of Fine Wine called the Latour “magnificent, all density without force, superfine, beautifully textured, the first candidate for perfection.”

Lay & Wheeler, who are offering single bottles at £925 IB, or £5,550 per six-bottle case in bond, said the new ex-château release would be “the last opportunity to acquire the wine with perfect provenance”, calling the wine one that “will last for decades and decades – it is the real deal”.

Meanwhile, the autumn release from La Place has continued, with the releases this week of Viñedo Chadwick 2022 at £3,096 per case of 12 – the second most expensive vintage available on the market – Bibi Graetz’s Testamatta 2022 and Colore 2022 at £696 and £1,800 per case of 12, respectively. Tenuta di Petrolo, Galatrona 2022 has been released at £770 per case of 12, making it the most expensive vintage of the past decade available on the market.

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