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  • Country ranking ?

    1 013
  • Producer ranking ?

    37
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    2020-2035
  • Food Pairing

    Beef

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The Story

Each Château has its own style.  / What would be, according to you, the specificities of Château Smith Haut Lafitte Red?

The style of our red wine is very classic, with a beautiful expression of our terroir of Günzian Gravel which gives unique smoky notes. We pursue elegance and structure, freshness and complexity, balance and richness.
Our majority of Cabernet Sauvignon, harvested at full maturity and softly vinified to extract only the s...

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Wine Information

At Château Smith Haut Lafitte, we implement the traditional viticulture techniques such as earthing-up the vines or horse ploughing of the fragile and sharp plots of white vine. We totally banished any chemical product and favor organic methods to fight against the various dangers that threaten the vine: mating confusion of the grape berries moths with pheromones, use of the typhlodromus mites which are the natural predators of the red spider ...

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Vintage 2000

Weather conditions / The 2000 vintage was proclaimed from the start as one of the best vintages of modern times. In the spring of 2003, I had many opportunities to find out if we really had a true dream vintage on our hands.

During the 2000 harvest, while doing a “personal inspection” in the vineyards, I noticed that something extraordinary was on the way. The grapes looked extremely healthy.

While the sorting table was rolling, I observ...

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Tasting note

color

Deep

flavors

Toasty and Honey

nose

Complex

taste

Dry

Written Notes

The weather in the year 2000 was full of surprises. Just before the year began, in December 1999, hurricane-force gales devastated many parts of Bordeaux, but fortunately spared our vines and cellars. A much more pleasant surprise was the excellent Indian summer that ripened grapes to perfection. Weather during the 2000 growing season was characterised by extremes and contrasts. The variations in temperature and humidity obviously had a major effect on the vines. Flowering occurred homogenously, a week later than normal. Cool periods were followed by hot, dry weather, especially in August, which had the highest average temperatures in the past 25 years. 

The outstanding weather during the Indian summer enabled us to pick perfectly ripe and healthy grapes. We started picking the young Merlot vines on September 22nd 2000. We then went on to harvest plots of old Merlot and Cabernet vines on the Smith Haut Lafitte plateau starting on September 25th 2000. In order to attain optimum concentration of phenolic compounds, we decided to interrupt harvesting for a week. We started up again on October 9th with the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Thanks to well-timed leaf thinning, even ripening, and perfectly healthy grapes, we had no trouble picking the grapes at our leisure at just the right moment. 

For the first time in ten years, we harvested without any rain, which leads us to expect an outstanding vintage

Work done on the Smith Haut Lafitte vatroom this past summer has made it possible to double the capacity of fermenting wines in small lots thanks to the installation of 80 hectolitre wooden vats. The first Merlot grapes came in with more than 13° potential alcohol and have finished fermenting. The wine is currently being left on the skins, and the colour is already quite deep. The tannins are powerful, yet silky. We finished bringing in the Cabernet grapes two days ago, and they have just started fermenting. They have thick skins, very good sugar levels, and pips as black as coffee beans. 

(Magnum) Ruby, garnet rim. Flinty smoky nose, bell peppers and cassis, barely developed. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, structured and layered, wait another five years, long. 92
  • 92p
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Information

Origin

Martillac, Bordeaux

Other wines from this producer

Château Cantelys

Château Cantelys blanc

Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc

Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Casher

Hauts de Smith Blanc

Le Petit Haut Lafitte

Le Petit Haut Lafitte Blanc

Les Hauts de Smith

Les Hauts de Smith rouge

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