Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2014

Professional Ratings

• 97 Wine Enthusiast
  Dense and beautifully ripe, this is a rounded rich wine. It focuses on the tropical yellow-fruit spectrum. That gives a full wine with wood-spice hints and just the right amount of citrus acidity to give it a lift. Drink this finely structured wine from 2023.
• 96 James Suckling
  Clear and vivid with sliced lemons and green apples on the nose. Flows through to a medium to full body, tangy acidity and a long and delicious finish. Give this super white at least two or three years to come together in the bottle.
• 94 Wine Spectator
  This is long and almost lush in feel, with creamed peach and yellow apple fruit taking the lead, but there's plenty of verbena, honeysuckle and star fruit notes imparting lift and cut. A long finish of quinine and mirabelle plum imparts length. A beauty. Drink now through 2023. 2,500 cases made.
• 93 Decanter
  Highly successful across both colours in 2014, this has so much character and grip that there is still plenty to love. Firm varietal definition, but with a touch lower acidity than some whites in this vintage as picked late to balance acidity levels. Great persistency, lots of pleasure ahead.
• 93 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2014 Smith-Haut-Lafitte Blanc is now more expressive than when I tasted it from barrel. It offers engaging scents of citrus fruit, Mirabelle and orange pith that gradually gathers intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, finely tuned citrus fruit married with Clementine and yellow plum, seguing into a spicy finish that lingers in the mouth. It is a delicious, complex Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc that should age well over the next 12-15 years.
• 93 Jeb Dunnuck
  The 2014 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc doesn’t have the weight of it younger brother, yet is still gorgeous on all accounts. Caramelized limes, citrus oil and exotic floral notes all emerge from this fresh, lively 2014 that has good concentrated and notable acidity. I love its texture, it’s impeccably balanced, and should cruise for a decade or more, although there’s no harm drinking today.