Louis Latour

The history of the house traces back to 1731, when Denis Latour, a cooper by profession, purchased the first vines in the Côte de Beaune; his son Jean Latour moved to Aloxe-Corton in 1768 and set up his own cooperage. The Maison was formally established in 1797, with its offices at 18 Rue des Tonneliers in Beaune, an address that has remained the headquarters ever since. The house expanded to the merchant side by becoming a négociant business in 1867. In 1997 Maison Louis Latour celebrated its bicentennial and was admitted to the Hénokiens Club, a select circle of companies who have remained in founding family ownership for at least 200 years and still bear the name of their founder.

• Denis Latour purchased the first family vines in 1731; Jean Latour moved to Aloxe-Corton in 1768, establishing his cooperage and acquiring Aloxe-Corton Les Chaillots, Corton Grèves, and Corton Bressandes.
• The Corton Grancey Cuverie was completed in 1834 and acquired by the Latour family in 1891; it was built over five levels so that all winemaking movement could be carried out by gravity, the first of its kind in France.
• Under Louis-Fabrice Latour, the company expanded further by purchasing Simonnet-Febvre in Chablis in 2003 and Henry Fessy in Beaujolais in 2008.
• In 2024, Eléonore Latour, a 12th-generation family member and the first woman to join the business, was named Vice President, following her father Louis-Fabrice who served as CEO from 1999 until his death in 2022.

Domaine Louis Latour, centred in the village of Aloxe-Corton, is the largest holding of Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy and covers 48 hectares of vineyard, including 27 hectares of Grand Cru. The domaine spans 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. Latour owns 10.5 hectares of Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, one of the most famous white wines of Burgundy. The cuvée Château Corton Grancey Grand Cru is produced only in the best years and is a blend of five Grand Crus of Corton: Les Bressandes, Les Perrières, Les Grèves, Les Chaumes, and Le Clos du Roi; the wines are vinified and aged separately, then the best barrels are selected.

• The Domaine also owns Grand Crus in Chambertin (Cuvée Héritiers Latour), Romanée-Saint-Vivant (Les Quatre Journaux), and Chevalier-Montrachet (Les Demoiselles), as well as Premier Crus in Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses, and Pommard.
• The Latour family has owned 0.8 hectares of Romanée-Saint-Vivant since December 1898, purchased from the heirs of the Marey-Monge and Larey families; the parcel Les Quatre Journaux lies close to Romanée-Conti.
• In 1913 the Domaine acquired 0.51 hectares of Chevalier-Montrachet, named Les Demoiselles in homage to Adèle and Julie Voillot, daughters of a Beaune general who owned the parcel and died without marrying.
• Since the early 1990s, Maison Louis Latour has actively practiced sustainable viticulture, with examples including cover crops between vine rows, production of its own compost, and non-chemical pest control measures.

Domaine Louis Latour's philosophy has always been to maximize the quality of grapes to produce great wines; 90% of the work is done in the vineyards, however the remaining 10% is critical. The red wines are vinified and aged at the historical Corton Grancey winery, where a system of elevators and traditional rails of chariots allow the transport and winemaking process to be carried out by gravity. After blending free-run and press juice, the wine spends approximately 12 months in French oak barrels and undergoes three rackings to clear any deposits. The in-house cooperage produces approximately 3,500 oak barrels per year, half used for their own wines and half exported worldwide.

• The Cuverie's first floor contains 45 large open wooden tanks; each harvest they are filled with grapes transported on a clever system of rails, and all fermentation work including pigeage is carried out by hand over 14 days.
• Oak for barrels is sourced from the forests of Northern and Central France, aged in the open air for more than two years, shaped by hand using traditional techniques, and finished with a medium toast.
• Corton-Charlemagne undergoes complete malolactic fermentation in 100% new, medium-toasted French oak barrels from the Louis Latour cooperage, then is aged for 8 to 10 months.
• The historic cellars are dug 20 metres underground into the bedrock of Corton Grand Cru Perrières, where around 800 barrels and 250,000 bottles are stored.

Corton-Charlemagne is a Grand Cru from the hill of Corton in the Côte de Beaune and one of the flagship wines of Maison Louis Latour. After Aligoté vines were destroyed by phylloxera, it was the fifth Louis Latour who decided to plant Chardonnay in the vineyards south of Corton, and this was the start of Corton-Charlemagne. Château Corton Grancey Grand Cru is produced only in the best years and is a blend of five Corton Grand Crus: Les Bressandes, Les Perrières, Les Grèves, Les Chaumes, and Le Clos du Roi. The négociant range spans dozens of appellations from Chablis to Beaujolais, supplemented by wines from the house's own properties beyond Burgundy.

• In 1979 Louis Latour began producing wine in the Ardèche valley, developing both the Chardonnay Ardèche and the Grand Ardèche, which is treated as if it were grown in one of the Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte d'Or.
• In 1989, Louis Latour decided to plant Pinot Noir in the Var region, establishing Domaine de Valmoissine with the aim of producing quality Pinot Noir at an affordable price.
• Between the domaine and négociant activities, Latour controls 15 percent of Burgundy's Grand Cru whites and is very strong at the villages level.
• Louis Latour owns vineyards across 24 appellations of the Côte d'Or and buys grapes from 2,470 acres across 130 different appellations.

Since the early 1990s, Maison Louis Latour has actively practiced sustainable viticulture and worked to preserve the ecosystems and biodiversity of their vineyards, choosing traditional viticultural techniques where care of the soil is essential. Since 2003, the entire estate has been managed according to the principles of sustainable agriculture and has been awarded ISO 14001 certification. Innovation has been at the core of Maison Louis Latour since its inception; today it is at the forefront of wine research in Burgundy, and since 1996 its weather stations have been managed in partnership with the University of Dijon.

• The Paysage de Corton initiative, begun by Maison Louis Latour, became a formal association with other Aloxe-Corton growers in 2009 to address erosion and drainage challenges in the village's vineyards.
• Christophe Deola has overseen Domaine Louis Latour since 2017; he trained at the Agronomic Institute of Paris, worked at Château Phélan-Ségur and Piper's Brook Winery in Tasmania, and joined Louis Latour in 2011 as technical director.
• The wines are aged in barrels from the Latour cooperage, where barrels have been hand-crafted for over 100 years.
• Louis-Fabrice Latour acknowledged Burgundy's need to adapt to climate change, noting the importance of moving vineyards to higher altitude or further north to preserve quality.

Louis-Fabrice Latour, president of Maison Louis Latour and one of Burgundy's most prominent wine producers, died on September 5, 2022 from cancer at the age of 58. Louis-Fabrice had taken over management of the Maison in 1999 and represented the 11th generation of the Latour family to oversee the winery. Leadership of the group passed to his brother Florent Latour, who became the new Chairman of the Management Board. The house has since named Eléonore Latour as Vice President, a 12th-generation member of the Latour family and the first female member of the family to join the business.

• Louis-Fabrice Latour studied political science at Sciences Po in Paris, worked briefly in finance with BNP Paribas, returned to the family domaine in 1989, and assumed direction of the family firm in 1999.
• In 2003 he led Latour to ISO 14001 certification and in the same year purchased the house of Simonnet-Febvre in Chablis.
• Latour was a recipient of the Légion d'Honneur in 2011 and served as co-president of the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB).
• In December 2022, Florent Latour succeeded his brother; Eléonore Latour, Louis-Fabrice's eldest daughter, started her training as the 12th generation during the 2023 harvest.