Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2019

Aromas of dried apples, pears and peaches with crushed stones. Fresh flowers, such as lilacs. Full-bodied with layers of fruit and a fresh, creamy palate that continues on for minutes. A refined, precise, and polished Smith. Tight at the end. Needs two or three years to open.

One of my favorite whites from the region is the 2019 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, which is mostly Sauvignon Blanc blended with a splash of Sauvignon Gris and Semillon. Textbook notes of honeyed lemon, melon, caramelized grapefruit, and orange blossom give way to a medium to full-bodied, ripe, seamless white that brings solid richness as well as a lively, racy quality that keeps you coming back to the glass. Drink this beautiful white over the coming 15-20 years. Best After 2022

The 2019 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc has turned out very well in bottle, reflecting the estate's volition to craft more structured, age-worthy whites. Offering up aromas of gooseberry, nectarine, mint and lemongrass mingled with hints of pastry cream, almond paste and smoke, it's full-bodied, satiny and incisive, with a textural attack that segues into a fleshy but promisingly tightly wound mid-palate, concluding with a saline finish. As usual, the blend features a small percentage of Sauvignon Gris, which brings more dry extract to the ensemble. Best after 2021.