The bright ruby/purple-colored Corton, produced from vineyards owned by this old, Beaune-based negociant house, offers blackberries and blueberries in the nose and a beautifully ripe, medium-bodied, and silky core of black cherries and cassis. This well-crafted wine should be at its peak between 1999 and 2004. I have rarely been enthusiastic about Maison Latour's reds, vastly preferring their whites, but found myself quite impressed with their efforts in 1996. The score, on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Louis Latour is represented by a different importer in each state.