Color: 2009 Le Petit Haut Lafitte Rouge has a beautiful, very deep red color.
Nose: Open, elegant, and expressive with overtones of red fruit, black fruit, mint, cedar, spice (liquorice, clove), and burnt nuances (gunflint, hearth).
Palate: Concentrated, powerful, and tightly-knit. Well-structured thanks to Cabernet Sauvignon, with a beautiful tannic texture. Very full-bodied and rich, with a long, powerful aftertaste. The wonderful, complex aromatics of Cabernet Sauvignon in this vintage are complemented by a subtle balance between fruit and spice.

Made from a blend of wines from the Smith Haut Lafitte estate, 2009 Le Petit Haut Lafitte rouge was produced and aged with just as much care as lots that went into the grand vin. The winemaking techniques were identical.

Yield: 34 hl/ha, before production was divided into 3 wines: Smith Haut Lafitte, les Hauts de Smith, and Le Petit Haut Lafitte.
Grape varieties: 55 % Cabernet Sauvignon 45% Merlot.
Winemaking: Double sorting both before and after destemming removed any undesirable matter (such as bits of stem and leaves), and the uncrushed grapes were fermented in vat.
Extraction of tannin and colour was done by pigeage (punching down the cap) and/or pumping over. Maceration took place at 26-28°C and the duration (between 4 and 6 weeks) varied from vat to vat as determined by regular tasting.
The wine was aged in barrel for 14 months.

Bud break occurred on time, in early April, after a cool, wet winter. The growth cycle started off comparable to the classic 2006 vintage. However, 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. By dint of 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. Thanks to 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. Helped 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.
The harvest began on 25 September in plots of young Merlot vines and finished on 14 October with Cabernet Franc.