Château Smith Haut Lafitte 2020
AC Pessac-Léognan cru classé, 750 ml
Grape variety: | Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot |
Producer: | Château Smith Haut Lafitte |
Origin: | France / Bordeaux / Péssac-Léognan |
Other vintages: |
Big anniversary tasting - 180 years Baur au Lac Vins!
Sunday, November 10, 2024 | 2pm until 7pm
Monday, November 11, 2024 | 2pm until 8pm
With over 25 wine and spirits producers present in person. Benefit from unique anniversary offers. 👉 Celebrate with us at the Baur au Lac (hotel).
Attributes
Origin: | France / Bordeaux / Péssac-Léognan |
Grape variety: | Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot |
Ripening potential: | 3 to 10 years after harvest |
Drinking temperature: | 16 to 18 °C |
Food Pairing: | Châteaubriand, Filet Wellington, Roast saddle of venison, Wild fowl |
Volume: | 14.5 % |
Note: | Contains sulphites |
Petit Verdot
Bordeaux’s secret weapon
It is commonly said that the Petit Verdot originated in Bordeaux. But genetically, it is closer to a group of vines from near the Pyrenees, which are most likely descended from wild clematis. In French, these wild plants are called “lambrusques”, and the Petit Verdot is also known under the synonym Lumbrusquet. It is a high quality grape: very dark and spicy with notes of cassis and graphite, plenty of robust tannins and strong acidity. Most major Bordeaux contain a small proportion of Petit Verdot. Appropriately, it is valued wherever wines are produced according to the Bordeaux recipe. For example, in Italian Maremma or in California, where it covers the largest area worldwide. It is almost never vinified purely by itself. Incidentally, its name, derived from “vert”, meaning green, alludes to its Achilles heel: in cool weather it tends to form small, seedless green grapes.
Péssac-Léognan
Pessac-Léognan: top crus from the suburbs
Pessac-Léognan is a communal appellation (following the example of the village appellations in the Médoc) located in the northernmost part of the Graves region. Its immediate proximity to the city of Bordeaux has drastically altered the area in recent years. Many chateaux have had to yield to settlement pressures. For this reason, some of the very best Bordeaux terroirs are located in the new suburbs. Top crus are produced on deep gravel soils, which combine the greatest possible elegance and power in the best Bordeaux style.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux: high prestige, high quality
With a total area of around 115,000 hectares, Bordeaux may not be France’s largest wine-growing region, but it is certainly its most prestigious. The range of wines produced here today is enormous: ranging from red everyday wines with a great relationship between price and quality to exclusive, and accordingly expensive, premier crus. Elegant white wines and noble sweet specialties round out the spectrum.
France
France – Philosophy in a bottle
According to French philosophy, wine should be an expression of the soil and climate. They use the word “terroir” to describe this. Terroir makes every wine different, and many especially good. French wine is regarded worldwide as an expression of cultural perfection. The French believe that humans are responsible for the quality of the berries, the vine variety for their character, and nature for the quantity. This philosophy can be expressed succinctly as: “the truth is the vineyard, not the man.”