2004 Smith Haut Lafitte

00

Drinking Window

2024 - 2032

Subscriber Access Only

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae aliquam odio. Aliquam purus diam, tempor et consectetur vitae, eleifend ac quam. Proin nec mauris ac odio iaculis semper. Integer posuere pharetra aliquet. Nullam tincidunt sagittis est in maximus. Donec sem orci, vulputate ac quam non, consectetur fermentum diam. In dignissim magna id orci dignissim convallis. Integer sit amet placerat dui. Aliquam pharetra ornare nulla at vulputate. Sed dictum, mi eget fringilla lacinia, nisl tortor condimentum mi, vitae ultrices quam diam ac neque. Donec hendrerit vulputate felis, fringilla varius massa.

- By Author Name on Month Date, Year

00

Subscriber Access Only

or Sign Up

You'll Find The Article Name Here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae aliquam odio. Aliquam purus diam, tempor et consectetur vitae, eleifend ac quam. Proin nec mauris ac odio iaculis semper. Integer posuere pharetra aliquet. Nullam tincidunt sagittis est in maximus. Donec sem orci, vulputate ac quam non, consectetur fermentum diam. In dignissim magna id orci dignissim convallis. Integer sit amet placerat dui. Aliquam pharetra ornare nulla at vulputate. Sed dictum, mi eget fringilla lacinia, nisl tortor condimentum mi, vitae ultrices quam diam ac neque. Donec hendrerit vulputate felis, fringilla varius massa.

- By Author Name on Month Date, Year

"Our idea in 2006 was to make a harmonious wine," said technical director Fabien Teitgen. "We carried out a gentle but long extraction at a relatively low temperature." Teitgen told me that he did a bit of batonnage "but just once or twice in all," but then he only stirs the lees when he believes that "there's a problem between the wine and the wood." The estate harvested from September 20 until October 5, added Teitgen, "focusing on picking the best parts, ripe, for our first wine. It wasn't easy to get good maturity this year."

00

Subscriber Access Only

or Sign Up

You'll Find The Article Name Here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae aliquam odio. Aliquam purus diam, tempor et consectetur vitae, eleifend ac quam. Proin nec mauris ac odio iaculis semper. Integer posuere pharetra aliquet. Nullam tincidunt sagittis est in maximus. Donec sem orci, vulputate ac quam non, consectetur fermentum diam. In dignissim magna id orci dignissim convallis. Integer sit amet placerat dui. Aliquam pharetra ornare nulla at vulputate. Sed dictum, mi eget fringilla lacinia, nisl tortor condimentum mi, vitae ultrices quam diam ac neque. Donec hendrerit vulputate felis, fringilla varius massa.

- By Author Name on Month Date, Year

Technical director Fabien Teitgen had not yet added any press wine to this chateau's wonderfully concentrated young 2005, made from a crop level of 35 hectoliters per hectare. The harvest here was late for the area, beginning on September 24 for the merlot and lasting until October 10. Not surprisingly, the young 2005 has a fairly high pH of 3.8 and 13.3% alcohol. The 35% merlot component seems especially successful here. Co-owner Florence Cathiard expressed the opinion that good water retention in the clay subsoil at Smith Haut Lafitte (as at some other Pessac-Leognan properties, such as Haut-Bailly) made a big difference in this drought year.

00

Subscriber Access Only

or Sign Up

You'll Find The Article Name Here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae aliquam odio. Aliquam purus diam, tempor et consectetur vitae, eleifend ac quam. Proin nec mauris ac odio iaculis semper. Integer posuere pharetra aliquet. Nullam tincidunt sagittis est in maximus. Donec sem orci, vulputate ac quam non, consectetur fermentum diam. In dignissim magna id orci dignissim convallis. Integer sit amet placerat dui. Aliquam pharetra ornare nulla at vulputate. Sed dictum, mi eget fringilla lacinia, nisl tortor condimentum mi, vitae ultrices quam diam ac neque. Donec hendrerit vulputate felis, fringilla varius massa.

- By Author Name on Month Date, Year

Even following what co-owner Florence Cathiard described as "a drastic pruning," it was necessary to carry out a green harvest at the end of July and beginning of August to reduce the crop load. "The clusters were huge, and the grapes were large too," said Cathiard. According to technical director Fabien Teitgen, picking the white grapes was easy, but the red wine harvest was tricky as there was not enough phenolic maturity early on despite good grape sugars. The cabernet here was ultimately harvested from October 13 to 18 with a large team of pickers. The rain during the harvest, though, did not have much of an effect. "The vines did not need water, so they didn't absorb much, and the grapes didn't swell," explained Teitgen. Following a saignee of 10% to 15%, the vinification was gentle and fairly cool. Teitgen did some quick two-minute pumpovers ("like an infusion"), but relied mostly on manual punchdowns to keep the cap wet. He then did up to 40 days of post-fermentation maceration at a fairly cool temperature.

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social