Château Latour Abandons Futures System, Wine Spectator Reports
April 16, 2012Wine Spectator reports that Château Latour’s 2011 vintage will be its last en primeur offering, as the estate says it will no longer use the system to sell its most recent vintage. Beginning with the 2012 vintage, Latour will forego announcing a price in the following spring along with the rest of Bordeaux, as it has historically done. Instead, it will only make the wine available for sale until after it is bottled and when the estate feels it is ready to drink.
At a time when the wine world is waiting for Bordeaux’s top properties to release their prices, the move came as a shock to industry members in the region. Word spread quickly after Château Latour sent a letter to its clients informing them of the change, a move necessitated by French laws which require a year’s notice when one party changes the terms of a business relationship with another.
“This is something that I wanted to do for quite a while. Generally, we’re concerned by the fact that our wines are drunk too young,” said Latour general director Frédéric Engerer. “We believe it is our duty, especially for a long-aging wine such as Château Latour, to be more concerned with that problem. We think this new commercial rhythm is in line with a growing demand from wine amateurs to be able to acquire wines that reach a ‘drinkability phase’ and that have been kept in perfect conditions in our cellars.”
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