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2021 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

  • White
  • Dry
  • Medium Bodied
  • Sauvignon Blanc (90%), Sauvignon Gris (5%), Sémillon (5%)
Ready - youthful
Product: 20218122816
2021 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Description

Sauvignon Blanc 90%, Sémillon 5%, Sauvignon Gris 5%

At 24hl/ha, the yield was about half the norm. The Sauvignon Gris contributes density and richness, with aromatics of ripe peach and white fruit. The wine sees 12 months in 50% new oak (from their cooperage) and lees stirring, enhancing both richness and structure. An aromatic nose of acacia blossom and white peach supports a glossy, almost tropical palate, laden with ripe apricots and orchard fruits. There was no malolactic fermentation; a brisk acid core with lemon, grapefruit and a touch of salinity ensures the wine is expertly balanced and undeniably age-worthy. Drink 2023-2038.

Our score: 17/20

Berry Bros. & Rudd, April 2022

Colour White
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2021
Maturity Ready - youthful
Grape List Sauvignon Blanc (90%), Sauvignon Gris (5%), Sémillon (5%)
Body Medium Bodied
Producer Château Smith Haut Lafitte

About this wine

Sauvignon Blanc

An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp  Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves. It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.
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Pessac-Léognan

Pessac-Léognan

In 1986 a new communal district was created within Graves, based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan. Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the classed growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux's southern urban sprawl.
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Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte

Château Smith-Haut-Lafite has been transformed during the last decade from being a perennial underachiever to being one of the leading estates in the Graves region.
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