Yeah, after a year, my Vittoria or Silca (made by Vittoria) latex tubes failed in the same place, at the base of the valve stem. I'm going to blame my own installation shortcuts. I was anxious to get them installed and ignored Silca's recommendations. Instead of using a rim tape, like the kind used for tubeless, I used a heavy duty Schwalbe plastic rim strip. While this provided enough support, the cut-out for the valve stem probably abraded the tube over the course of a year and a few thousand miles.
I have a pair of unused latex tubes from a year or so ago. Before installing I'll use the recommended method, per the Silca video on their website. I'm betting the trick of cutting a minimal hole to accommodate the valve stem should offer enough support with less abrasion than the Schwalbe plastic rim strip.
The ride was pretty sweet. I've been using butyl tubes the past few months and really miss the feel of latex over our coarse chipseal roads.
If I wasn't still limited to 700x25 tires, max, for my older road bikes with narrow chainstays, I'd go tubeless. But I'm not sure tubeless is practical with 700x23 and 700x25 tires.