chateau smith haut lafitte blanc pessac leognan

Château Smith Haut Lafitte

Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Pessac Léognan, 2023

Name: Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Pessac Léognan
Brand: Château Smith Haut Lafitte
Price: 642 GBP

98/100

Inside Bordeaux

94-96/100

The Wine Independent

95-97/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

En primeur

2023
6x75cl
EP
£642.00

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2023 - 2023 was not a particularly challenging vintage for the whites according to Technical Director Fabien Tetigen, as long as you used the vines’ canopies to counteract the heat spikes. The one watch out was harvest date, though, timing of picking was key – neither rushing nor waiting too long. Judging by this wine, the Smith Haut Lafitte team got it spot on, for this is one of the whites of the vintage as far as we are concerned. A blend of 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon and 5% Sauvignon Gris – this is a particularly intense but well balanced Smith Haut Lafitte. It carries its concentration well. Seamless but endless flavours of citrus, stone, herbs and mint flow briskly across the palate. A touch of creaminess signposts full ripeness, but is complimentary to the pristinely fresh fruit. Showing well already but, like all great wines, this is holding a touch in reserve, too.

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

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

A blend of 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon, and 5% Sauvignon Gris, the white 2023 Smith Haut Lafitte is aging in 50% new oak. After a swirl or two, it prances out with gregarious notes of white peaches, fresh pineapple, and green mangoes, opening out to underlying hints of lime blossoms, wet slate, and fresh ginger. The medium-bodied palate is satiny and vivacious, with a racy backbone and a long, exotic fruit-laced finish. Yum!

drinking window 2027 - 2034

date of review 05/2024

98/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

No tasting notes available

drinking window 2025 - 2038

date of review 05/2024

95-97/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2023 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc was picked from August 23 to September 9 at 36hL/ha and matured in 50% new oak. It has a reticent bouquet at first, requiring a few swirls of the glass to reveal touches of orange pith, peach skin, wild fennel and light pressed white flower scents. The palate is very well balanced with a lovely creamy texture, counterbalanced by the taut line of acidity. Very poised and focused, it's somehow almost Corton-Charlemagne-inspired on the finish (perhaps due to the umami). This is a seriously fine white Pessac-Léognan.

drinking window 2028 - 2048

date of review 04/2024

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.