chateau smith haut lafitte blanc pessac leognan

Château Smith Haut Lafitte

Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Pessac Léognan, 2022

Name: Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Pessac Léognan
Brand: Château Smith Haut Lafitte
Price: 719.5 GBP

96/100

Inside Bordeaux

93-95/100

The Wine Independent

94-96/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

En primeur

2022
6x75cl
EP
£719.50

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, tasted En Primeur, offers a more muscular, impactful interpretation of the vintage, as it exudes grassy citrus and tropical notes of pineapple and passion fruit. Quite solid and firm on the palate, those 60-80 year old vines make their presence felt. It may need a little time to unwind, or perhaps is more clearly a wine for the table, the benefit of the doubt suggests that these wines do come good with time. 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon and 5% Semillon Gris (which imparts an extra kick of creaminess in the wine, we are told). Raised in 50% new oak.

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94-96/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2022 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc is matured in 50% new oak for a planned 12 months, removed from barrel after 9 months with three months in vat after blending. It has a very perfumed nose with yellow plums, jasmine, walnut and touches of fennel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine depth and acidity. Waxy in texture, with hazelnut and white pepper toward the saline, almost creamy finish.

drinking window 2027 - 2050

date of review 05/2023

93-95/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2022 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc is a blend of 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon, and 5% Sauvignon Gris, with a yield of 24 hl/ha and aging in 50% new oak. It bursts from the glass with bold notions of Bosc pears, grapefruit oil, and white peaches, followed by wafts of coriander seed, sea spray, and wet pebbles. The medium-bodied palate is charged with a lively backbone, supporting the generous stone fruit and pear flavors, finishing long and chalky.

drinking window 2025 - 2032

date of review 05/2023

96/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

This has structure and depth, serious tension, with slate, vibrant citrus, graphite, white pear, apricot, aniseed, liquorice, star anise, creamy but with a slice of steel that cuts through it. Brilliant quality, this is a standout white. Harvest August 18 to September 2. 50% new oak. Technical director Fabien Teitgen.

drinking window 2023 - 2032

date of review 05/2023

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

Pessac Léognan

Producer:

Château Smith Haut Lafitte

style:

White Wine

Grape Variety:

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

abv:

13%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.