Château Smith Haut-Lafitte 2023

Critic scores

• James Suckling98
• Jeb Dunnuck97
• Wine Enthusiast97
• Vinous96
• Decanter94

The 2023 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 91/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: July mildew followed by a hot September demanded strict selection: fleshy, aromatic wines, more approachable than 2022.

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

Comments from Fabien Teitgen, Technical Director: “The nose is very expressive, with lovely notes of red and black fruit, a lovely blend of morello cherry, blueberry and blackcurrant. On swirling, a spiced dimension becomes dominant, with notes of clove, liquorice and eucalyptus, then darker, empyreumatic notes appear, with touches of graphite and pencil lead. Superb aromatic complexity, very typical of the great Graves soils. The attack on the palate is direct and forthright, with lovely density and superb texture. The wine is full, dense, with a lovely freshness balance. The tannic structure is present, well ripened, with a very lovely texture and a velvety touch. The aromatics on the palate reflect the notes of the nose, with a very lovely complexity of red fruit, black fruit and spice, along with nuances of tobacco leaf and eucalyptus. And always these graphite notes, so characteristic of our Smith Haut Lafitte. A very fine vintage combining power and elegance in a refined tannic structure.”

Blend of the 2023 vintage

Cabernet Sauvignon(70%), Merlot(23%), Cabernet Franc(6%), Petit Verdot(1%)

Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2023 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with 30 % merlot, 60 % cabernet sauvignon, 9 % cabernet franc, 1 % petit verdot.

Figures from the 2023 sheet

• 26 hl/haYield
• 49 yrsVine age

Winemaking

Vinification as whole berries in small wooden vats at 28°C, very gentle extraction carried out by hand punching down.

Ageing

18 months in barrels (60% new barrels made in our own in-house cooperage), ageing on lees, a single racking, then ageing adjusted for each wine.

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).