Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Grand Cru Classé, Pessac Léognan, 2022

This is 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, and the élevage was in 60% new oak for 18 months. An intriguing nose, dark, brooding, communicating the ripeness of the vintage but it comes with a mildly reductive, matchsticky overlay. There is a crystalline freshness to the ripe berry fruit here, the glassy currant and cranberry notes wrapped up in threads of toast, liquorice, charcoal and mineral. With time it opens out to reveal a powdery, perfumed richness that reminds me of the 2016 vintage. The palate also opens up slowly, reluctantly, but what it offers is consequential, with a ripe and polished tannic frame of impossibly tight-knit tannins, so integrated they feel like a continuous whole wrapped around the palate, and they come draped with a polished, dark and brooding blanket of fruit. A hugely seductive and imposing style, enticing but structured, this is a great Pessac-Léognan which will need a decade or two to show its best, but I expect it will drink well for several decades thereafter. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%.

This shows reserve on the nose, pared-back elegance, layers of black fruits, violets, peony, spice, liquorice, cocoa bean, mint leaf, lemongrass, beautifully textured and supple tannins. Builds and raises the level of intensity through the palate, creamy black cherry, damson and peach pit also, great tension, chalk, energy, tension, conctration and freshness as the aromatics expand, 60% new oak for ageing, 10% whole bunches fermentation. Sure to age. Fabien Teitgen technical director, Florence and Daniel Cathiard owners.

The 2022 Smith Haut Lafitte, bottled in June 2024, includes 15% of the stems, though winemaker Fabien Teitgen emphasizes that he does not want their effect to be palpable in the blend. Its fragrant bouquet blends red and black fruit with hints of anise and Italian herbs, coming across quite complex and a little more flamboyant than some of its Pessac peers. The medium-bodied palate features plush tannins and very pure black fruit interlaced with hints of graphite and black pepper. Boasting gentle grip and a great sense of harmony, this is a wonderful Smith Haut Lafitte that will evolve in bottle over many years.