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2020 Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte, 1.5ltr

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

January 21, 2024 - $230

Estimate

RATINGS

100Jeb Dunnuck

...incredible aromatics of blackberries, blueberries, scorched earth, wood smoke, and acacia flowers.

99James Suckling

Extremely fresh and deep in the nose with raspberry and blackcurrant character, as well as stone, fresh green tobacco and ink. Full-bodied with a dense center palate and gorgeous fine yet steely tannins. It calms down at the end with berries, citrus and some lavender. Salty at the end. Very minerally. Flinty.

97Vinous / IWC

Ample, rich and explosive...exciting mélange of dark fruit, chocolate, spice, gravel, leather and dried herbs, with a touch of new oak that adds raciness.

95+ The Wine Advocate

...aromas of cassis and plums mingled with notions of pencil shavings, violets and minty new oak. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, its velvety attack segues into a multidimensional mid-palate that's framed by rich, generously extracted tannins that assert themselves on the long, youthfully firm finish.

95Wine Spectator

Exotic and lush in feel, with well-steeped plum, boysenberry and blackberry fruit flavors rolling through, scored with hints of espresso crema, dark tobacco and black licorice along the way. Very polished in feel, but with a late flicker of savory and a subtle tug of earth to keep this honest in the end.

18Jancis Robinson

Restrained black fruit, all serious and not yet open. Powerful yet harmonious.

PRODUCER

Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte

Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte is a classified Grand Cru of the Pessac-Leognan appellation. Though it dates to the 14th century, it was an 18th-century owner from Scotland who gave the château its name, Smith. In 1990 the estate was purchased by Daniel Cathiard, a former French Olympic skier and heir to a French supermarket chain. With his wife Florence, a former international advertising executive, he runs the 170-acre estate. About 10,000 cases of red wine are produced each year, and 3,000 cases of white. The two second labels are Le Petit Haut-Lafitte and Les Hauts de Smith, both made with estate fruit. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that “since its acquisition by the Cathiards, this property has become one of Bordeaux’s success stories, producing elegant, flavorful, complex, very complete wines.”

REGION

France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

Pessac-Léognan was created in 1987 from the northern part of the left bank Graves appellation. Before then it was simply part of Graves, or sometimes it was called Haut-Graves. Unlike many other Bordeaux appellations, Pessac-Léognan is known for both red and dry white wines, although its reds are more famous. The appellation includes ten communes and the area’s most important châteaux, including Château Haut-Brion, the only non-Médoc estate included in the 1855 Bordeaux classification. There are 2,964 acres of vineyards in Pessac-Léognan and 16 classified growth estates. The main red grapes grown are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, along with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. White grapes grown are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, with a little Muscadelle. Pessac-Léognan is considered to have the best terroir of the greater Graves region.