Smith Haut Lafitte 2015

Tasted blind. Spice and fruit and vibrancy. Tea leaves rather than drying finish. Good savour.Drink 2023-2037

Charry oak and plenty of dark fruit on the nose. Rich, powerful and still beautifully balanced between the fruit and the structure. Long, chewy, dark finish. Great promise. (JH) 13%Drink 2025-2040

Another wine from the Cathiard family I was able to taste on multiple occasions is the 2015 Smith Haut Lafitte and it’s brilliant stuff readers should snatch up. Offering a huge nose of chocolatey dark fruits, roasted herbs, graphite and flowers, this big, rich, opulent beauty has building tannin, loads of structure and great mid-palate. It will drink nicely for 20+ years. 2018 - 2038

Depth on the nose the palate has brooding richness layers of black fruits. Sweet and ripe in the middle fleshy and supple but there is balance with bilberry under the rich black cherry and chocolate. Sweet and ripe at the back yet the finish is stylish lighter and long.

Right up there with the best Left Bank reds in 2015, this is the latest in a line of impressivereleases from Smith-Haut-Lafitte. Grassy, aromatic and herbal, with blueberry andblackcurrant sweetness, tangy acidity and a core of serious, well integrated tanninembellished by stylish, perfumed oak. Drink: 2025-35

Dark and meaty initially, with power and richness, this is tempered by subtle tannins and serious length. The oak is epicand this heightens the fruit immeasurably. This is a very successful Smith Haut Lafitte and it is a wine which will start todrink sooner than expected but also live for longer than hoped for, too.

The 2015 Smith Haut Lafitte has a lush and generous bouquet with black cherries, raspberry and rose petal scents, those shucked oyster shells that I noticed out of barrel surfacing with aeration. There is wonderful purity here and it blossoms with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip on the entry, layers of red berry fruit, allspice, cedar and tobacco with a structure and insistent finish that suggests it will age over many years. This is a sophisticated young Smith Haut Lafitte, precocious in talent and bound to age with style and class. This is a seriously fine Smith Haut Lafitte that I feel will get better and better with age. One to watch. Anticipated maturity: 2020 - 2045.

The 2015 Smith-Haut-Lafitte is adorned with a special label to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the château and the 25th vintage made under the ownership of Daniel and Florence Cathiard. It is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, picked between 23 September until 12 October with the Cabernet Franc. Matured in 65% new oak (although technical director Fabien Teitgen mentioned that he could have added more if he felt it would benefit), it has a very intense, blueberry and crème de cassis scented bouquet, a touch more opulent than its peers with hints of freshly shucked oyster shell developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannin couched in gorgeous, satin-textured black cherry and cassis fruit, tinged with cedar and pencil shavings. It lingers very long and sensually in the mouth, completing a sophisticated and powerful Smith Haut-Lafitte that should age in splendid fashion.

This vintage is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, matured in 65% new oak barrels. Medium to deep garnet-purple, the 2015 Smith Haut Lafitte has a totally dazzling nose of exotic spices—star anise, fenugreek and Sichuan pepper—over a core of chocolate-covered cherries, wild blueberries, plum preserves, violets and earthy wafts of truffles, moss, tilled black soil and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced and packing a lot of flavor into a relatively modest package, it fills the mouth with spice and herb-laced black and blue fruit layers, supported by very ripe, very finely grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length. This is already a show-stopping, heart-pounding beauty, but should also age incredibly! 2022 - 2048

Deep crimson. Fragrant and fresh with lots of tannins – far, far more than in the 2017! Just chock-a-block with everything. A wine to hang on to but good and dry with Graves freshness. No one should be disappointed with this anniversary bottling.Drink 2028-2045

New black label to celebrate the Cathiards' anniversary and that of the property. Very dark. Comfortable base and lots of perfume. Round and sweet. Tense and tight. An excitingly taut package that promises well. Drink 2024-2040