Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte, 2015 Update
I recall when I was exploring wine for the first time I came across a bottle of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte sitting on the shelves of a local wine merchant. If I recall correctly (and there is no guarantee of that I am afraid) it was from a vintage in the early 1990s, and my eyes skipped over it to seek out something more interesting, confident in my new knowledge that 1991, and 1992 were all poor vintages which made few wines of any real interest. And anyway, I also understood that Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte was a chronically under-performing estate that we needn’t give a second thought.
My vintage knowledge remains true today, but such a view of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte is long outdated of course. It was first purchased by Daniel and Florence Cathiard, then revitalised in every way imaginable, and the wines are now some of the best in Pessac-Léognan. The whites are rich, sitting at the riper end of the Graves style-spectrum along with Domaine de Chevalier and Château Brown, while the reds are now imbued with a velvety texture and endowed with plentiful tannins. They are much bigger wines, yet they remain true to the appellation, and understandably have garnered a lot of fans.
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