Château Smith Haut Lafitte: 2008-2018 vertical tasting

It would seem that Florence Cathiard – the dynamic co-owner of Château Smith Haut Lafitte alongside her husband Daniel – is a down-to-earth sort of woman: ‘Everything comes from the soil,’ as she likes to say.

The Cathiards certainly consider themselves to be custodians of that soil and, accordingly, the property is committed to organic viticulture, with certification granted in 2019 (their methods also include biodynamic practices, for which they are not seeking certification).

Scroll down to see tasting notes & scores for red and white Smith Haut Lafitte wines from 2008 to 2018

Surrounded by pine forests and natural hedges, the Smith Haut Lafitte vineyard extends for 87ha in a single block. Composed of gravelly and sandy soils, its composition and topography is ideal for the sort of precise, haute couture viticulture conducted here.

Working closely with both their technical director Fabien Teigen and the team at Bordeaux-based Derenoncourt Consultants, the Cathiards have elevated their estate to the firmament of the Bordeaux elite. This is a historic property whose origins go back some 650 years, but the Cathiards – who have overseen more than 30 vintages – produce wines of a contemporary style that combine freshness with aromatic complexity.

‘Aromatic brilliance’ and ‘remarkable finesse’

The great strength of Smith Haut Lafitte lies in how well the wines benefit from the match between environmentally friendly viticulture and the estate’s terroir which is so typical of this area, located in the commune of Martillac within the Pessac-Léognan appellation. It would be foolish to seek power at the expense of elegance, for the best wines from here tend to express aromatic brilliance and suave, fleshy textures framed by tannins of remarkable finesse.

Certainly, there was a passing phase in the late 1990s and early 2000s during which there was a fashion for massive wines with such an intrusive oak character that they needed decades before this element could be integrated, or eaten, as the Bordeaux producers like to say.

Today, the consumer will encounter various styles, but the one truly in sync with the times emphasises vibrant fruit, racy acidity and freshness as well textural finesse, not to forget the holy grail – a feeling of weightlessness on the finish.

Tasting excellence

A vertical tasting hosted at Château Smith Haut Lafitte was revelatory in this respect.

For hot and sun-drenched vintages, the wines reveal a telluric expression of the earthy accents, and notes of graphite and liquorice that, year in and year out, are a hallmark of Smith Haut Lafitte. In such vintages, however, the wines possess a powerful, at times massive, tannic structure that may require several decades of cellaring to fully reveal the natural elegance and poise that characterise this estate’s production.

On the other hand, the less extreme or even less sunny vintages – which tend to be downplayed even in Bordeaux where they are referred to as ‘petits millésimes’ (small vintages) – are those that allow consumers to enjoy the resulting wines early on while the big, brooding guns from solar vintages continue their prolonged cellaring. In such years, Smith Haut Lafitte always shines, as the constant leitmotif of its terroir expression is textural finesse.

Since 2015, however, the style has become even more refined. The more exacting viticulture of biodynamic tendency no doubt explains this stylistic evolution, but it is also the fruit of recent vintages which stands out, with climate change meaning producers have often been able to pick their Cabernet Sauvignon at optimal ripeness (but this is not to discount the crucial role of the Cathiards and their technical team in fine-tuning the terroir expression of recent wines). 

These wines appear more delicate with even silkier and more elegantly proportioned tannins, not to forget their outstanding freshness and harmonious acidity. The tension that suffuses the 2016 red leads me to attribute a deserved top score for such a classy wine that incarnates to perfection the Smith Haut Lafitte style.

In many ways, the experience and track record of the Cathiard family reflects the contemporary evolution of Bordeaux: the move toward wines of more aromatic intensity and brightness without intrusive oak character, the search for more textural finesse, even delicacy, in contrast to the density of a bygone era, and also toward a more precise viticulture that definitely represents a huge change from the at times excessive, heavy-handed farming practices of the 1970s and 1980s, even of the 1990s.

See tasting notes and scores for Smith Haut Lafitte wines from 2008-2018:

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