Château Smith Haut Lafitte cultivates a uniqueness that we are not familiar with from any other winery in Bordeaux: there are two equal second wines! These differ only in the composition of the vines, value and type of development are identical.
The Le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte has a higher percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon than the Les Hauts de Smith. In 2020 this was 60%, supplemented with 40% Merlot. Barrels (20% new oak) are used that come from the winery's own cooperage. This is also unusual in Bordeaux. You want to have the ideally matched barrels for all the wines, so you produce them yourself. The Cathiard family leaves nothing to chance when it comes to bottling the very best wines. The time of harvest has been determined with satellite support since 2009 and the berries run through an optical sorting machine that only allows perfectly ripe berries to pass through. All these efforts then lead to this excellent Pessac-Léognan.
Georgina Hindle from DECANTER magazine rates the 2020 le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte an incredible 96/100 points. She notes cassis, herbs, mint and blackberries, describes the wine as characterized by Cabernet Sauvignon and praises the resilience, density and mouth-filling texture. The wine is serious but captivating.
The 2020 le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte is an excellent value. Rarely do you get so much high-quality Bordeaux in this price range.
