Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 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. Cellar Selection
• 96 James Suckling
  A big black-cherry and bitter-chocolate nose leads into a rich, concentrated palate, where the fruit easily holds sway over the powerful, dry tannins. It’s these that drive everything along right through to the assertive, slightly earthy finish; impressive long-term stuff! Try in 2021.
• 96 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
  I have always found the Smith Haut Lafitte to be a rather large wine. The 2014 vintage exhibits plenty of richness, yet it stays this side of going over the top. The wine, offering black fruits, graphite, and savory herbs, is in a class of its own. The winery has found a way to tame it and allow it to retain the dusty and earthy flavors so typical of the Graves area. (Tasted: January 27, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
• 94 Wine Spectator
  This has a generous feel, with ripe fig, boysenberry and blueberry compote fruit flavors that are entwined with alluring roasted apple wood, melted licorice and warm fruitcake notes. The broad, mouthcoating finish has a terrific graphite underpinning to stay honest. Best from 2020 through 2035.
• 94 Decanter
  They have so nailed the 'full extraction without making it obvéous' trick at this property. Clearly high oak and firm tannins but rich, enrobed, black coffee and rich damson fruit, will age well, get really fine tannic structure, but with the slightly glamorous house style, the Mouton of Pessac-Léognan. Lovely. The vibrancy and integrity of the fruit from their biodynamic/organic work in the vineyard is very clear.
• 93 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2014 Smith-Haut-Lafitte has a fragrant mulberry and strawberry scented bouquet with cedar and subtle undergrowth scents emerging with time. There is something almost Musigny-like here (written as a complement incidentally—why not be compared to the greatest Burgundy Grand Cru?). The palate is medium-bodied with a soft and mellow opening. Quite spicy in the mouth with leather-tinged fruit on the open and inviting finish, there is something very approachable about this Smith-Haut-Lafitte, though like the 2014 Pape-Clement, it contains the substance to drink well over 10-15 years.
• 93 Jeb Dunnuck
  The 2014 Smith Haut Lafitte shows the elegant style of the vintage, yet the depth of fruit that’s common from this estate. Blackberries, currants, scorched earth, spicy oak and tobacco leaf nuances give way to a medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured 2014 that has ripe tannin and nicely integrated acidity. It has tons of character and is a beautiful, elegant wine to drink over the coming 15 years or so.