Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Beautiful depth, density and complexity, and a lovely spice, along with softer touches of floral aromatics. Successfully holds juice and tension through the palate. A clear feeling of family relation to its bigger sibling, Smith Haut Lafitte. Drinking Window 2021 - 2034
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Wine Enthusiast
One of two second white wines from this top estate, this has a ripe pineapple and apple character that is enhanced by wood aging. Rich and full in the mouth, it is spicy and likely to be Best after 2022.
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James Suckling
Aromas of blackberries, blueberries and fresh herbs follow through to a full body with lots of ripe fruit and a long, flavorful finish. A little warm and slightly bitter at the end. But it shows structure and intensity. Mostly cabernet sauvignon. Try after 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Plump and juicy, delivering red currant and cherry preserve flavors lined with a taut licorice edge. There's a flash of tobacco on the finish.
Barrel Sample: 89-92 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Checking in as 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, the 2018 Le Petit Haut Lafitte is a terrific second wine with a complex, nuanced style in its darker currant fruits as well as notes of cedar wood, tobacco, and truffle. With medium-bodied richness, supple, elegant tannin's, and outstanding length, drink this charming, elegant, classic Graves over the coming decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot matured in 20% new barriques, the 2018 Le Petit Haut Lafitte has a medium to deep garnet-purple color and expressive notions of crushed black plums, fresh blackberries and mulberries with wafts of dark chocolate, cinnamon stick and unsmoked cigars, plus a waft of bouquet garni. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of juicy black fruits, framed by fine-grained tannins and well-knit freshness, finishing with an herbal lift.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.