Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Pessac-Leognan Grand Cru Classé 2020 i trækasse

Jeb Dunnuck

Absolutely pure gold and reminding me of the 2009 (or is it the 2010?), the 2020 Château Smith Haut Lafitte sports a dense purple hue to go with incredible aromatics of blackberries, blueberries, scorched earth, wood smoke, and acacia flowers. One of the most concentrated, rich, and sexy wines in the vintage, this massive and extraordinarily opulent 2020 shows the vintage's pure, elegant profile yet backs it up with sensational levels of fruit and texture. Based on 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it already offers pleasure given its wealth of fruit, but it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 40-50 years. Not enough can be said about the quality of these wines. Bravo to Florence and Daniel Cathiard, as well as to director Fabien Teitgen, for another incredible achievement

Vert de Vin Magazine

James Suckling

Extremely fresh and deep in the nose with raspberry and blackcurrant character, as well as stone, fresh green tobacco and ink. Full-bodied with a dense center palate and gorgeous fine yet steely tannins. It calms down at the end with berries, citrus and some lavender. Salty at the end. Very minerally. Flinty.

Tastingbook.com

VV Wine

Highly complex, profound, clear and pure like a mountain stream, a bouquet that is second to none, cassis, currants, cherries, blackberries, including chalky and stony notes, super-fine roasted aromas, violets, a drug, a dream. The palate continues what the nose suggests, everything is in its place, sensational tannin quality, excellent balance between alcohol, fruit and acidity, the wood is also perfectly integrated. A magnificent SHL rouge from A to Z, with a majestically long finale. I also underestimated this wine when I tasted it En Primeur. This is definitely one of the highlights of this excellent vintage and clearly a great wine. A must for every well-stocked wine cellar.

The Wine Independent

Andreas Larsson, Tasted

Great purity and intensity with inky dark fruit – blackberry, cassis and floral notes with fine oak integration just a hint of toast. Ample and concentrated palate with fine nuance and layers, powerful yet elegant with a tremendous length and complexity, this will be something really great!

Markus del Monego MW

Decanter

Vivid dark purple in the glass, but a remarkable clarity too. Fragrant black cherries, plums, cassis and perfumed aromas with blueberries, balsamic touches and white pepper. Rich, round, grippy and captivating, slightly plush but also tight, where you get a soft chalky, wet stone grip with lively acidity balanced by strict and spiced liquorice-touched fruit. You feel the leanness here but it's so well defined with clarity and precision. A sleeping giant right now, definitely not yet fully expressing itself but slowly grows to a long finish. There's something so utterly seductive about this wine, it's overt, forward, upfront, confident and powerful no doubt, this will need a while before it should be opened, but it’s a shining thoroughbred. Refined and purposeful. There’s a bit of magic in this bottle.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

Incredibly dark in color, the aromatics spring from the glass with smoke, tobacco leaf, blackberry, cassis, licorice, flowers, cocoa and cigar box notes. The wine is full-bodied, rich, lush, opulent and intense. All that power is harnessed by freshness, intensity and lift. There is a beautiful sense of purity and vibrancy not found in previous vintages. With textures of silk and cashmere, with layers of perfectly ripe, seductive, black and dark red fruits accompanied by Valrhona chocolate, the seamless finish stays with you, expanding for close to 60 seconds! This is clearly the best wine Smith Haut Lafitte ever produced! The reason is simple. Previous vintages at times felt like they were made in the cellar. Here you taste a wine that was produced in the vineyard. Blending 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, 14.5% ABV pH of 3.65. The harvest took place September 12 through September 30, yields were only 32 hectoliters per hectare.

Antonio Galloni

The 2020 Smith Haut Lafitte is every bit as captivating as it was from barrel. Ample, rich and explosive, the 2020 offers up an exciting mélange of dark fruit, chocolate, spice, gravel, leather and dried herbs, with a touch of new oak that adds raciness. This towering, vertical Smith Haut-Lafitte won't be ready to drink for a number of years, but it is super impressive. Even with all of its intensity, the 2020 retains terrific freshness and energy.

Alexandre Ma