2015 Smith Haut Lafitte
Buying options
Tasting notes
A good vintage in Pessac Léognan, as on the Right Bank, confirming how often these two areas succeed together. Ripe fruits, a little candied, with sweet blueberry, raspberry pastille, black chocolate and crushed rocks, given lift and focus by rose petal and violet edges. Enjoyable, in its drinking window already but can age from here. 80% new oak, Fabien Teitgen technical director.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Wine Spectator
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Concentrated garnet. The nose is somehow a bit fractured (doesn’t hang together). Very extracted and insistent. Dense and ambitious but a bit overdone. Grainy tannins on the end. (JR)
The 2015 Smith Haut-Lafitte has an ebullient bouquet with luscious black cherry, blueberry and tobacco scents that soar from the glass. Its nose says "party time"! The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins that frame the layered black, slightly toasty fruit. With fine focus, grip and a liberal sprinkling of black pepper on the bravura finish, this is a Smith Haut-Lafite that demands attention. Excellent.
Spiced cassis and bilberry, layered through with cocoa bean and black chocolate, great quality, this is concentrated but with a slow build, satin and velvet textured tannins, so soft that you barely feel the grip that they are still exerting at ten years old. This vintage marks 25 years of the Cathiard ownership of the estate, and shows just how successfully they have placed their estate at the heart of great Bordeaux. 60% new oak, Fabien Teitgen technical director.
About the producer
Ch. Smith Haut Lafitte is one of the leading lights of Pessac-Léognan today – all thanks to Daniel and Florence Cathiard, who took over the property in 1990 and have since transformed the estate, converting to biodynamics and crafting wines of increasing finesse.