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Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte label
Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte bottle

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2009

Red Wine

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Item# 1721-09

Product Ratings

James Suckling 96pt
Wine Spectator 96pt
Wine Advocate 100pt

Tasting notes

This complexity was also present on the palate, and the wine soon proved to be rich, powerful, balanced, and refreshing. With time, power and concentration have become its hallmarks – but not at all at the expense of finesse. The tannin is incredibly rich and there is a beautiful, long aftertaste. The aromatic complexity on the nose carries over to the palate, which features superb red fruit and spicy flavours (clove, liquorice, and cinnamon) as well as subtle overtones of graphite, gunflint, and violet… 2009 red Smith Haut Lafitte displays a rare combination of power, richness, outstanding elegance, and delicate tannin.

Vintage

The temperatures in 2009 were close to those in 2005, and rainfall was similar to 2000 – two great examples with regard to crucial ripening parameters! Summer was relatively dry with beautiful sunny days and cool nights. Thanks to deep rooting and meticulous work in the vineyard to find the best possible equilibrium between the soil and the vines, vine growth came to a halt on the 20th of July and a long, fine ripening period began. With the help of satellite photos, we now have a map showing how each plot ripens. This enables us to organise picking at peak maturity and to harvest grapes of uniform ripeness. Assisted as well by two new technologies (optical sorting of the fruit and destemming by vibration), we were able to obtain exactly the desired degree of extraction.

Harvest

The harvest began on 25 September in plots of young Merlot vines and finished on 14 October with Cabernet Franc. The excellent initial impressions we had from tasting the grapes were soon confirmed in the fermentation vats. The new wine was deeply-coloured, almost black. It had great concentration with powerful, complex, and elegant aromas of red and black fruit, spices, herbs, cedar, liquorice, clove, and graphite…

Yield

34 hectolitres per hectare (before selection of the the grand vin): Smith Haut Lafitte, les Hauts de Smith, le Petit Haut Lafitte, and les Hauts de Maujan.