Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc Pessac Leognan 2012

Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc Pessac Leognan 2012
9.25 stars
23 Oct 2020

Normally one would have used Bordeaux stemware for Bordeaux wines, however, I do have respect for Smith Haut Lafitte’s blanc, as I think they produce very good quality whites, thus I took a Grassl Cru and Liberte to do a heads-on comparsion. Obviously, using Cru (a big bowl burgundy glass) caused the flavor to be dispersed, while Liberte retained all the great flavor of this white, and also more focused. The bouquet was very Bordeaux driven: oily with very faint lemon zest. Content was really stunning, multi-dimensional fruits and many shades of flavor, very long finishing. Perhaps the not-so-obvious weakness was the lack of lively acidity, as the acidity was acting on the background, but that’s definitive character of Bordeaux whites.