Maison Louis Latour

The Latour family first bought vines in the Côte de Beaune in 1731, when cooperage was already a family occupation. In 1768 Jean Latour moved to Aloxe-Corton, set up his own cooperage and acquired Aloxe-Corton Les Chaillots, Corton Grèves and Corton Bressandes. Maison Louis Latour was created in 1797, and its wines were first exported to Great Britain in 1815. In 1867 the house became a négociant, setting up offices at 18 rue des Tonneliers in Beaune, a building constructed in 1641 that the third Louis Latour acquired on 30 June 1867. In 1891 the house acquired the Corton Grancey Cuverie, Château Corton Grancey and 33 hectares of vines from the Grancey family in Aloxe-Corton, of which 15 hectares were Corton Grand Cru. Between 1891 and 1900, after phylloxera had destroyed most of the Aligoté, Louis Latour planted Chardonnay in the vineyards south of Corton previously planted with Aligoté and old Gamay. In 1900 the house acquired Grand Cru plots in the Côte de Nuits, including Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Chambertin, and in 1913 it made an equal joint purchase of Chevalier-Montrachet 'Les Demoiselles' with another Burgundy house. In 1997 Maison Louis Latour celebrated its bicentennial and was admitted to the Henokiens, a group of family-owned companies at least two centuries old and still owned by their founding families. The house remains independent and managed by the founding family.

• 1731: first vines bought in the Côte de Beaune; 1768: Jean Latour settled in Aloxe-Corton.
• 1797: Maison Louis Latour created; 1867: became a négociant at 18 rue des Tonneliers, Beaune.
• 1891: acquired the Corton Grancey Cuverie, Château Corton Grancey and 33 hectares of vines, 15 of them Corton Grand Cru.
• 1913: equal joint purchase of Chevalier-Montrachet 'Les Demoiselles'; 1997: bicentennial and admission to the Henokiens.

Louis-Fabrice Latour (1964-2022), the seventh Louis Latour and the eleventh generation, was in charge of the house from 1999. In 2003 the house received ISO 14001 environmental certification and acquired Maison Simonnet-Febvre in Chablis, and in 2008 it invested in Beaujolais, buying Henry Fessy. He had taken over the house from his father. In 2023 his brother Florent Latour, also of the eleventh generation, took over the management of the house, working with the family shareholders and the Management Board while preparing the 12th generation to take over. In March 2024 Eléonore Latour, a 12th-generation member of the family and the first woman of the family to join the business, was named vice president, reporting to Florent Latour as CEO. Christophe Deola joined the house in 2011 as technical director and has been director of Domaine Louis Latour since 2017.

• Louis-Fabrice Latour (1964-2022): in charge of the house from 1999; acquisitions of Simonnet-Febvre (2003) and Henry Fessy (2008).
• Florent Latour: took over the management of the house in 2023.
• Eléonore Latour: named vice president in March 2024, the first woman of the family to join the business.
• Christophe Deola: technical director from 2011, director of Domaine Louis Latour since 2017.

Domaine Louis Latour covers 48 hectares of vineyard, including 27 hectares of Grand Cru, from the red Grand Crus of Chambertin and Romanée-Saint-Vivant in the Côte de Nuits to the white Grand Crus of Corton-Charlemagne and Chevalier-Montrachet in the Côte de Beaune. The domaine is centred on Aloxe-Corton, the family's home since the creation of the house. The family owns 10.5 hectares of Corton-Charlemagne on the Corton hillside, where the south-easterly aspect gives maximum exposure to the sun. Château Corton Grancey, built in 1749 by Gabriel Lebault and owned by the family since 1891, is surrounded by a Clos enclosing part of the premier cru Aloxe-Corton Les Chaillots. In Burgundy the red wines are made from Pinot Noir and the whites from Chardonnay, and the grapes are hand harvested. The house has practised sustainable viticulture since the early 1990s, uses cover crops between rows, makes its own compost from pruning wood and grape skins, ploughs young vines on steep slopes with horses, and has managed weather stations with the University of Dijon since 1996. In 2009 the 'Paysage de Corton' initiative begun by the house became an association with other growers of Aloxe-Corton, addressing erosion and drainage and planting trees and hedges.

• 48 hectares, including 27 hectares of Grand Cru; Grand Crus include Chambertin, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Corton-Charlemagne and Chevalier-Montrachet.
• Corton-Charlemagne: 10.5 hectares on the Corton hillside, with a south-easterly aspect.
• Sustainable viticulture since the early 1990s; ISO 14001 certification in 2003; weather stations with the University of Dijon since 1996.

The house has made wine in the Ardèche since 1979, working with around 100 local growers who own 380 hectares of vines and buying only grapes; its winery at Alba-la-Romaine was built in 1986. In the Var it created the Domaine de Valmoissine at Aups, planted exclusively with Pinot Noir: the first vines were planted on 35 hectares in 1990, and the estate now covers more than 100 hectares. Maison Simonnet-Febvre in Chablis, founded in 1840, was acquired in 2003 and has vineyards in Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru 'Mont de Milieu' and Chablis Grand Cru 'Les Preuses'. In Beaujolais the house settled in 2008; the heart of Henry Fessy's domaine is at the centre of the Brouilly appellation, on the foothills of Mont Brouilly. In 2015 the house planted Pinot Noir in the Pierres Dorées area, about 40 kilometres northwest of Lyon, on clay and limestone soils.

• Ardèche since 1979: around 100 growers with 380 hectares under long-term contract.
• Var: Domaine de Valmoissine, Pinot Noir, first planted in 1990, now more than 100 hectares.
• Chablis: Simonnet-Febvre (founded 1840, acquired 2003); Beaujolais: Henry Fessy (2008); Pierres Dorées: Pinot Noir planted in 2015.

Construction of the Corton Grancey Cuverie in Aloxe-Corton was started by the Marquis de Cordoue, and the Cuverie was completed around 1834. It is built over five levels into the hill so that the whole winemaking process can be carried out by gravity, and all Domaine Louis Latour wines are made and aged there. Pinot Noir is sorted and de-stemmed, then fermented for 14 days in 45 large open wooden tanks with punching down by hand; Chardonnay is pressed after sorting and put directly into barrels. The cellars, dug 20 metres underground into the bedrock of Corton Grand Cru Perrières, hold around 800 barrels and 250,000 bottles. Purchased red grapes from the Côte d'Or are vinified at the Pommard winery, renovated in 1999; the grapes bought are equivalent to 15 to 20 hectares of Pinot Noir and are aged for 10 to 12 months in oak barrels. Clos Chameroy in Savigny-lès-Beaune, completed in the late 1970s, is the main production centre, with a winery of 30,000 hectolitres capacity, bottling lines, a laboratory, a printing shop and the cooperage. The cooperage produces around 3,500 barrels a year from oak from the forests of northern France, air-dried for more than two years and medium toasted; part of the output ages the house's own wines and the rest is exported to producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay around the world.

• Corton Grancey Cuverie: completed around 1834, five levels, gravity winemaking; all domaine wines are made and aged there.
• Pommard winery: purchased red grapes from the Côte d'Or, vinified there since 1999.
• Clos Chameroy (Savigny-lès-Beaune): main production centre, completed in the late 1970s.
• Cooperage: around 3,500 medium-toasted barrels a year.

The house's list runs from Bourgogne 'Cuvée Latour' to Grand Crus including Corton-Charlemagne, Château Corton Grancey, Chevalier-Montrachet 'Les Demoiselles', Romanée-Saint-Vivant 'Les Quatre Journaux', Chambertin 'Cuvée Héritiers Latour' and Bâtard-Montrachet, with Ardèche wines including Grand Ardèche Chardonnay and Duet, a Chardonnay and Viognier blend. Château Corton Grancey is a blend of five Corton Grand Cru areas of the domaine, Bressandes, Perrières, Grèves, Clos du Roi and Chaumes, in proportions that vary with the vintage; after ageing separately, only the best barrels are blended, and the wine is made only when the grapes reach perfect maturity. The 2022 was aged 10 to 12 months in oak barrels, 35% new. The 2022 Corton-Charlemagne was fermented in oak barrels with complete malolactic fermentation and aged 8 to 10 months in new oak barrels from the Louis Latour cooperage. Wine Spectator put the house's production at about 750,000 cases of wine a year, making it one of the largest négociants in Burgundy.

• Château Corton Grancey: five Corton Grand Cru areas, made only in vintages with perfectly mature grapes.
• Corton-Charlemagne 2022: barrel fermented, 8 to 10 months in new oak.
• About 750,000 cases a year, according to Wine Spectator.

The house states that its domaine and négociant wines are 'vinified and aged with care in the traditional style of the House, with elegance and finesse,' and calls Château Corton Grancey 'the signature of our house style.' Buying grapes rather than must or wine gives the house full control over selection, vinification and ageing, so that it can keep its house style in the finished wines.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/introduction, https://www.louislatour.com/en/history, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/domaine-louis-latour, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/domaine-chateau-corton-grancey, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/historic-winery, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/the-cooperage, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/clos-chameroy, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/pommard-winery, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/rue-des-tonneliers-in-beaune, https://www.louislatour.com/en/the-style, https://www.louislatour.com/en/our-domaines/chablis, https://www.louislatour.com/en/our-domaines/beaujolais, https://www.louislatour.com/en/wines, https://www.louislatour.com/en/wines/56/corton-charlemagne-grand-cru/2022, https://www.louislatour.com/en/wines/51/chateau-corton-grancey-grand-cru/2022, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/louis-latour-ardeche, https://www.louislatour.com/en/maison-louis-latour/louis-latour-var, https://www.louislatour.com/en/our-domaines/les-pierres-dorees. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/florent-latour-named-chairman-of-burgundy-negociant-maison-louis-latour-494394/ (Decanter), https://www.winespectator.com/articles/louis-fabrice-latour-president-of-burgundys-maison-louis-latour-dies (Wine Spectator) and https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2024/03/maison-louis-latour-appoints-new-execs-to-bolster-team/ (The Drinks Business, 28 March 2024). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.