2023 Smith Haut Lafitte
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Tasting Notes
This is a weighty and serious wine in 2023. Blackberry, huckleberry, with more delicate violet, lavender and pepper leap from the glass, supported by graphite, woodsy forest floor and faint liquorice. Firm, grippy tannins spread across the palate, ending on a slightly astringent note. There is such a fresh and energetic quality to this wine, with juicy red fruit and lovely acidity, despite the densely packed fruit and more savoury notes. Definitely a wine to age for decades to come. The 2023 is particularly memorable for the Cathiard family as King Charles III and Queen Camilla chose to visit the estate during the harvest. As such every bottle of both the red and white will bear a commemorative label to mark the occasion. Aged in 60% new oak, with 14% alcohol and 3.65 pH. Blend: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2023 Château Smith Haut Lafitte checks in as 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, resting in 60% new oak. It sports a deep ruby/plum hue as well as awesome aromatics of smoky red and black fruits, scorched earth, graphite, and hints of violets. It's gorgeously textured, full-bodied, has a deep, unctuous mid-palate, and building tannins. It's unquestionably one of the gems in the vintage and should be snatched up by savvy readers. It's worth pointing out that this estate harvested very late, going to October 4, and it certainly appears to have paid off.
The nose shoots out its tobacco, smoke, camphor, spice, floral, and black, with red fruits with only a swirl or two. The palate is even better with its fresh, energetic, black, with red fruit profile, along with its array of spices, chewy tannins, blue fruits, smoke, and dark chocolate. The wine is long, intense, focused, and complex, with a nice aromatic display in the mouth in the finish, which sticks with you for almost 50 seconds. The key to the vintage was finding the right dates to harvest coupled with a soft, gentle extraction. Picking took place from September 22 - October 5. The wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, and is aging in 60% New, French oak barrels for 18 months. 14% ABV. pH 3.65.
A blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2023 Smith Haut Lafitte is aging in 60% new oak and it is opaque purple-black in color. It needs a bit of shaking to brink forth an eruption of blackcurrant preserves, ripe plums, and baked black cherries, leading to hints of chocolate mint, violets, and unsmoked cigars, with a waft of pencil shavings. The medium to full-bodied palate is taut with muscular black fruits, delivering a solid frame of firm, grainy tannins and well-knit freshness, finishing long and earthy.
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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.