Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Le Petit Haut Lafitte 2016

Thanks to its 55 hectares of superb gravelly vineyards, Smith Haut Lafitte is often referred to as the “archetypical Graves.” The estate’s history goes back to the Crusades, and a Scottish navigator, George Smith, who became the owner of the estate in the 18th century. He was followed by M. Duffour-Dubergier, Mayor of Bordeaux, and then Louis Eschenauer, a famous wine shipper.

Though Le Petit Haut Lafitte is the second wine from Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, this Cabernet dominant blend in 2016 taste way more like a first wine than any 2nd wine I’ve tasted. It’s a low-key powerful wine with tremendous youth and force, budding tannins and incredible precision for a wine this big. Of course it’ll need a few years, but when you do put the cork… WOW!