We were doing some tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and little did I know that my Bride thought she needed a few more presents under the tree for me.  So, she had an ulterior motive, but we also know that she enjoys tasting wines.  Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in the Pessac-Leognan region was rated a Grand Cru Classé during the 1959 Classification of the Graves for its red wine; today it is also considered one of the finest examples of white Bordeaux. The second wines are labeled as Le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte; the red was introduced in 2010 and the white in 2013; and the juice is selected from lots identified during the blending of the Grand Vins.  The estate is seventy-eight hectares of organic vineyard on a low hill of stones and pebbles, which offers great drainage and reflects sunshine to the vines as well.  The vineyard is farmed organically, and produces its own compost, even using a horse to plow the white wine vineyard; they also maintain their own apiary system, a vine nursery and inhouse cooperage.  Grapes have been grown and cultivated on the property since 1365 on a gravel plateau that was termed as a Lafitte back then.  The current name comes from a Scottish wine merchant George Smith that built his manor house on the grounds.  In 1958 the estate was purchased by the Louis Eschenauer company who invested in the property.  Since 1990, the property has been owned by Florence and Daniel Cathiard and besides the estate they also own Caudalie company, whose beauty care products are made from grape seeds and vine cuttings.  Les Sources de Caudalie is a well-known “Spa Vinotherapy” set among the vineyards, and a similar facility is in the Cheverny region of the Loire Valley.

We started off tasting Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc Pessac-Leognan 2020 and was originally labeled as Le Petit Haut Lafitte Blanc.  The Stealth Cellar is their energy-plus facility and they do all the winemaking for the estate, using the same process for all of their wines.  The yield for the white wines comes from twenty-nine hectares and three white wines are produced from this lot.  The wine is a blend of eighty percent Sauvignon Blanc and twenty percent Semillon.  The fruit is hand picked into small crates and pressed in an oxygen-free environment, to preserve the aromatic potential of the grapes and fermentation takes place in French Oak barrels of which fifty percent is new after a cold settling of the juices.  The wine is aged for ten months on the lees with constant batonnage.  The wine is a light golden-yellow wine and offered notes of grapefruit, orange rind, honeysuckle, vanilla, and almonds.  On the palate the tones of citrus, honeysuckle, vanilla, and almonds blended in a medium body wine that was rich and creamy and finished with a minerally terroir.  The estate makes this wine to the same standards as their Grand Vin, but with less barrel aging.

Then we followed with a tasting of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Le Petit Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge Pessac-Leognan 2020 and this wine was originally labeled as Le Petit Haut Lafitte Rouge.  The estate uses more than one-hundred hand pickers to select the grapes, and the picking dates are influenced by a row-by-row imaging from the Oenoview satellite system.  The also employ a Vistalysis optical scan for each berry, to remove lesser-quality fruit. The estate is famed for having one of the largest underground cellars in Bordeaux.  The fruit is from a thirty-hectare lot, that furnishes all the red wines produced for the estate.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and forty percent Merlot.  The grapes are sorted twice, before and after destemming; and are not pressed before undergoing fermentation in vats.  Tannins and color are extracted by punching down and/or pumping over for a period of fourteen months, with twenty percent new barrels.  A deep garnet colored wine offering notes of black fruits, licorice, and dark chocolate.  On the palate there were tones of plums, cherries, currants, chocolate, licorice with a sense of smoky, silky tannins and a nice medium count finish.  Even though this wine was medium-bodied it was so lush and rich, easy to see it in the cellar for twenty years.  We ended up with a nice wooden six-pack of each.