Wine dynasties have always carried their own particular intrigue: great estates, closely guarded knowledge and the inevitable question of what happens when one generation gives way to the next. Drops of God turned that world into television drama, weaving inheritance, rivalry and an encyclopaedic reverence for wine into something unexpectedly compelling. At Maison Louis Latour, one of Burgundy’s oldest family houses, another succession story is beginning to unfold, albeit with rather less melodrama.
Eléonore Latour, 28, has become the 229-year-old Maison’s first Chief Brand Officer, the first woman to hold an executive position in the business and the twelfth generation of the family to enter its leadership. Working alongside her uncle, CEO Florent Latour, she arrives at an interesting moment: not to reinvent Latour, but to consider how almost 230 years of winemaking history should speak to a new generation.
There is plenty of history to work with. Founded in 1797 in the Côte de Beaune, Louis Latour remains family owned and possesses one of Burgundy’s largest collections of Grand Cru vineyards. More unusually, it is the region’s only producer to operate its own cooperage, making the oak barrels in which its wines are matured.
Eléonore talks of carrying that heritage forward while introducing younger drinkers to the “beauty, character and craftsmanship” of Burgundy. And perhaps the most persuasive introduction is not one of Latour’s exalted Grands Crus, but its far more democratic Bourgogne Pinot Noir.
The 2023 is an elegant, immediately likeable expression: bright red cherry and raspberry, a little darker fruit beneath, then gentle spice and an earthy savouriness. Light on its feet, fresh and silky rather than heavily structured, it has enough Burgundian character to be interesting without demanding contemplation.
For a house with nearly 230 years behind it, that accessibility may be rather useful as Latour considers who will drink its wines next.
Currently retailing at Waitrose for £18