The gap between this cuv?e and the grand vin is sometimes surprisingly narrow, but that isn't the case with the 2021 Les Forts de Latour. Offering up aromas of cassis, plums and creamy new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, with a broad attack, tangy acids and youthfully stringy tannins that assert themselves on the finish. I suspect it will come together with a bit more time in bottle.

A deep, serious wine that makes no concessions, the 2021 Les Forts de Latour opens in the glass with notes of cassis, plums, pencil shavings, loamy soil and nicely integrated new oak. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's taut and multidimensional, with powdery tannins and impressive length on the finish. H?l?ne Genin, Latour's technical director, observes that her ambition to bring more aromatic expression and range to this cuv?e has led her to ever more precisely time the harvest of the multitude of small parcels that go into this cuv?e―something that appears to have borne dividends in this challenging vintage.