New 100 Point Score: "pure perfection in white wine" (JD) Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc

We are delighted to offer our last few cases of the 2020 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc. With a new 100-point score from Jeb Dunnuck, so above the likes of Haut Brion Blanc and Ch Margaux’s Pavillon Blanc, this is one of the superstars white of the vintage and an utterly compelling buy.

Pessac’s Smith Haut Lafitte is one of the few Bordeaux Chateaux that is just about as famous for its dry white as its red. The quality of this excellent producer is astonishing, with the white consistently among each respective vintage’s best white. Looking at Jeb Dunnuck’s note, the 2020 might well be the finest made here yet.

For Dunnuck, this is “stunningly rich, layered, concentrated” and “pure perfection in white wine”. With 100 points, it is the joint highest-scoring white in his newly published report on the 2020 Bordeaux vintage and comfortably beats the ultra-expensive Haut Brion Blanc, which managed 98+ points.

Given the quality, the 2020 Smith Haut Laffite Blanc looks like a bargain.

2020 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc

(6*75cl OWC) @ £570 per case in bond

100 points Jeb Dunnuck

Lastly, and pure perfection in white wine, the 2020 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc is based on 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Sauvignon Gris and 5% Semillon that was aged in 50% new oak. This massively rich, concentrated, powerful white offers a heavenly nose of honeyed flowers, orange marmalade, lemon grass, and toasted bread, with a building sense of salinity and minerality that shows on the finish. Drink this stunningly rich, layered, concentrated 2020 over the coming two decades. (2023) www.jebdunnuck.com Drink 2024-2044

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