2018 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc
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Tasting notes
I've tasted this a number of times over the past few months, and it never fails to impress. Yes, it's still young, and you can easily leave it longer, but with a good hour or so in a carafe this is pure drinking pleasure. The fruits are heading towards apricot, fleshy ripe pear and peach pit, reflective of the warm summer, but they are balanced by a slate texture and mouthwatering saline minerality on the finish. 50% new oak. Harvest August 24 to September 17, 28hl/h yield.
Critic scores
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc has clearly opened up in the 12 months since it was bottled. It has a really gorgeous bouquet of honeysuckle, orange blossom, nectarine and white chocolate aromas, the oak playing a supporting role. The focused palate delivers well-judged acidity, good depth, and flavors of tinned pineapple, clementine and touches of peach, maybe less malic than it showed out of barrel. It sports very good length, although it will clearly benefit from a couple of years in bottle.
The Grand Vin 2018 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc ratchets everything up a notch, offering a vividly fresh bouquet of crushed citrus, salty minerality, caramelized grapefruit, acacia flowers, and toast. It's rich, medium to full-bodied, and racy on the palate, with bright acidity, yet it still brings beautiful concentration of fruit as well as length on the finish. This is a brilliant white in every way. Give bottles another year or three and enjoy over the following 10-15. I suspect it will evolve well beyond that as well.
About the producer
Ch. Smith Haut Lafitte is one of the leading lights of Pessac-Léognan today – all thanks to Daniel and Florence Cathiard, who took over the property in 1990 and have since transformed the estate, converting to biodynamics and crafting wines of increasing finesse.