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Thing: Château Smith Haut Lafitte - 2012



02:01
Videos (2)
created on: 15/10/2015
by: Lacrimus (242)
Global thing :
G
T
 
 

Wine properties

Info as displayed on the thing :
CHATEAV
SMITH HAVT LAFITTE
GRAND CRU CLASSÉ
2012
PESSAC-LÉOGNAN
DANIEL ET FLORENCE CATHIARD
Country :
France
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Region :
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Appellation
Pessac-Léognan
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Year :
2012
Credits :
Bottler : D. Cathiard SAS
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Owner (Propriétaire) : D. Cathiard SAS
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Contains (cl) :
75
Alcohol % :
14
Grape variety :
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Merlot   40
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Petit Verdot   1
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Wine color :
Red
Height (of front label) :
9.0 cm
/
3.54 inch
Websites
Description (by producer & GT in English only) :
Yield: 32 hl/ha, before selection of the wines: Château Smith Haut Lafitte,
Les Hauts de Smith and Le Petit Haut Lafitte.
Whole uncrushed grape berries fermented in small oak vats at 28°C and
extraction with manual pigeage (punching down the cap).
· Aged in barrel on the lees for 18 months (60% new barrels, made at the
estate's own cooperage) and only racked once. Duration of ageing was
adjusted to each wine.
· Average age of the vines: Age: 38
· To be enjoyed from 2017 to 2027
2012: a vintage driven by reactivity
After a chaotic beginning of the vine cycle: early bud break and blockage in April
(cold and wet); the vine found back a proper growing path with the beautiful
weather conditions from May to September. However, the delay and
heterogeneity undergone because of this difficult start of the vine cycle was to be
felt all year long.
Once more, the reality of great terroirs, the efforts made in the quest for the
balance between the plant and the soil, the vitality of the soils and the low yield
reduced greatly theses gaps and induced a slow yet complete maturity of the
grapes.
After a first picking day of young vines on the 25th of September, the true harvest
started in very good weather conditions on the 4th of October with the Merlots;
the juices offered good balances and beautiful aromatic freshness. The weekend
of the 6th and 7th of October, with no previous warning sign, a warm and humid
depression, of tropical type, troubled our tranquility: mushroom started to be
found in the property woods… and botrytis spots appeared.
Sure of the proper maturity of our grapes, we decided to take immediate
measures to react to these weather conditions and called in 200 harvesters. The
harvest pace doubled, allowing us to qualitatively pick the grapes before they
could be affected. Our very selective harvest reception area (de-stemming
through vibration, both optical and manual sorting) assured us the perfect quality
of the grapes transferred to the vats: no botrytised grape could have passed
through this draconian process… Under that sustained pace, harvest finished on
the 17th of October with the Cabernet Francs.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte Red 2012 offers a beautiful dark bright red colour
with blue hue. The already expressive nose reveals very fresh notes of red fruits
(strawberry, cherry) with a hint of smoke. Once aerated, the nose complexity
appears with delicate notes of spices (star anise, liquorice, cinnamon), of red
fruits as well as beautiful and elegant flower notes. Then the nose stretches out
with terroir aromas of flint stone and fireplace.
The attack in mouth is fresh and balanced with a fleshy and unctuous texture. The
wine is a subtle balance between maturity and freshness: the maturity from the
concentration, the impressive unctuosity and sugarity and the beautiful structure
of long and classy tannins; the freshness from the tension, the dynamism and the
aroma sparkle. The whole defines very well this wine, already reachable, fresh,
harmonious and very elegant. This long mouth gives way to a fresh very
bordelaise finale, a red fruit explosion. The aromatic is very close to that of the
nose, characterised by the freshness with crunchy red fruits, spices notes of
liquorice, dry herbs and empyreumatic notes of fireplace and flint stone.
Comments & Reviews :

Rating:

9,33

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Item number : 5064

Submitted by : Lacrimus (242)
on : 15/10/2015
Last updated on: 29/03/2017