Château Smith Haut-Lafitte 2003

The 2003 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 88/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: The historic heatwave halted ripening in young vines: very ripe, low-acid wines, at their best in Saint-Estèphe, where the clays held on to freshness.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pessac-Léognan. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

The Merlots present themselves concentrated, rich, full-bodied and powerful, with aromatics of red and black fruit and liquorice. The Cabernet Francs are very elegant and of great aromatic finesse. The Cabernet Sauvignons, harvested at good ripeness, reveal their structure, their richness and aromas that are both fresh and spiced.

Blend of the 2003 vintage

Figures from the 2003 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 25 hl/haYield
• 38 yrsVine age
• 120,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

In wooden vats: 26-28°C. Malolactic fermentation in barrel, then ageing on lees with lees stirring, racking lot by lot.

Ageing

18 months in barrel (80% new oak).

Terroir

The terroir has such a strong personality that it gave the region its name: "Les Graves". These graves are an accumulation of alluvial, sandy and stony deposits laid down on a Tertiary limestone subsoil by the turbulent rivers and glaciers of the early Quaternary era, subsequently reshaped into gravel rises by erosion. At Smith Haut Lafitte, the soil is made up of one of the rare Günzian gravel rises, thick and ochre in colour, a sign of its richness in iron oxide. This soil is of high quality for viticulture because it is at once free-draining, very poor and warm at the surface, while maintaining a degree of coolness and moisture at depth (clay or limestone).