Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2022

Bewertungen

• 100/100

  Jeb Dunnuck
  Looking at the Grand Vin, the 2022 Château Smith Haut Lafitte checks in as a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that was raised in 60% new French oak. Reminding me of a more elegant version of the 2010, it has a dense purple hue to go with a rich, powerful, full-bodied, sensationally complex nose of cassis and darker berries interwoven with woodsmoke, scorched earth, chocolate, and chalky minerality. Concentrated, deep, and layered on the palate with ripe, velvety tannins, it's a sensational, absolutely heavenly effort that will keep for 40-50 years. Along with the 2009, 2010, and 2020, this is one of the greatest wines to ever come from this address. Don't miss it."

• 100/100

  Decanter
  Deep and evocative, this bursts with blackcurrants, milk chocolate and floral perfume. Instantly captivating, the palate is silky yet structured, with tannins seamlessly supporting vibrant red and black berries. Broad and powerful, yet it glides, showcasing Cabernet’s structure, Merlot’s generosity and cool spiced fruit. A mineral core adds complexity, with flint-like nuances. A masterclass in power and balance - and unmistakably Smith. 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. Organic."

• 98/100

  The Wine Cellar Insider
  Almost opaque in hue, the wine jumps from the glass with its showy display of flowers, smoke, cigar wrapper, blackberries, and black currants. If that wasn't enough to keep you busy, the palate, with its multiple layers of black, with blue fruits drenched in espresso, chocolate, smoke, and spice will seal the deal. Opulent, as well as refined, the finish lingers, and expands on your palate for more than 50 seconds! Is this the best vintage of Smith Haut Lafitte ever produced? With aging, if the score goes up, it could be! Drink from 2030-2060."

• 98/100

  Jane Anson
  This shows reserve on the nose, pared-back elegance, layers of black fruits, violets, peony, spice, liquorice, cocoa bean, mint leaf, lemongrass, beautifully textured and supple tannins. Builds and raises the level of intensity through the palate, creamy black cherry, damson and peach pit also, great tension, chalk, energy, tension, conctration and freshness as the aromatics expand, 60% new oak for ageing, 10% whole bunches fermentation. Sure to age. Fabien Teitgen technical director, Florence and Daniel Cathiard owners."

• 98/100

  James Suckling
  The vivid fruit character here is so impressive for this hot and dry vintage. It's medium- to full-bodied, showing gorgeous crushed grapes and dark berries. With density, clarity and beauty, it really speaks of great cabernet sauvignon. The tannins are integrated and go long, taking you deep and complete on the palate. 64% cabernet sauvignon, 32% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. Seems almost drinkable now but needs at least five years of bottle age. Drink after 2029."

• 96-98/100

  Wine Enthusiast
  The wine's richness is impressive. Ripe black fruits show well with acidity and a balance between the fruit and the serious structure. It is a wine that shows great fruit now but its tannins mean it will age."

• 97/100

  Lisa Perrotti-Brown
  This is 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, and the élevage was in 60% new oak for 18 months. An intriguing nose, dark, brooding, communicating the ripeness of the vintage but it comes with a mildly reductive, matchsticky overlay. There is a crystalline freshness to the ripe berry fruit here, the glassy currant and cranberry notes wrapped up in threads of toast, liquorice, charcoal and mineral. With time it opens out to reveal a powdery, perfumed richness that reminds me of the 2016 vintage. The palate also opens up slowly, reluctantly, but what it offers is consequential, with a ripe and polished tannic frame of impossibly tight-knit tannins, so integrated they feel like a continuous whole wrapped around the palate, and they come draped with a polished, dark and brooding blanket of fruit. A hugely seductive and imposing style, enticing but structured, this is a great Pessac-Léognan which will need a decade or two to show its best, but I expect it will drink well for several decades thereafter. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%."

• 97/100

  Falstaff
  Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Feine Edelholznuancen, ein Hauch von Cassis, reife Zwetschken, Nugat, facettenreiches Bukett. Kraftvoll, straff, reife dunkle Waldbeerfrucht, integrierte Tannine, mineralisch und lange anhaftend, würziger Nachhall, langes Finale, sicheres Reifepotenzial, wird einige Zeit benötigen, um sich voll zu entfalten."

• 96+/100

  The Wine Advocate
  With a somber, slightly introverted character characterized by notes of licorice, gentian, spices and dark wild berries, the 2022 Smith Haut Lafitte possesses a medium to full-bodied, concentrated and dense palate with a fleshy core of fruit and a generously extracted structure with an assertive tannic frame that requires time to mellow. Concluding with a long, dense and gentian-inflected finish, it needs time to digest its élevage and should gain harmony and balance with some time in the cellar."

• 95/100

  Wine Spectator
  Delivering a warm gush of cassis, plum puree and cherry preserves, this manages to capture a polished feel, with sweet tobacco, black licorice and violet notes filling in liberally, all backed by an echo of espresso crema on the lengthy and opulent finish. Almost approachable for its mouthfeel, but cellaring will be rewarded. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2026 through 2042. 8,000 cases made, 2,400 cases imported."

• 18,5/20

  Weinwisser
  64 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 32 % Merlot, 3 % Cabernet Franc, 1 % Petit Verdot, 29 hl/ha. 60 % neue Barriques. Bezauberndes Bouquet, frisch gepflückte Wildkirsche, Alpenheidelbeergelee, feines Baccarat-Parfüm und Schokopastillen. Am sublimen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, körnigem Extrakt, muskelbepacktem Körper und engmaschigem Tanningerüst. Im konzentrierten langanhaltenden Finale wird der Grand Vin immer länger, grandiose schwarzbeerige Konturen, gepaart mit viel Würze. Fabien Teitgen ist von der unglaublichen Balance und Tiefe beeindruckt."

• 17,5/20

  Jancis Robinson
  Deep crimson. Ripe but not overly sweet black fruit with an attractive suggestion of minerally stone dust. Pure, dark, rich, the tannins chalky but firm. A powerful yet elegant wine with a very long finish. Chewy, deep and ageworthy."