Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2004

Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot

The Merlot were intensely colored and concentrated, with good structure and volume. The bouquet features fresh, ripe fruit (raspberries, cherries, blackberries), with spicy, liquorice overtones. The Cabernet Sauvignon express all their aromatic freshness in a powerful, rich structure, redolent of fresh red-berry fruit, with floral and flinty overtones. And finally, the Cabernet Franc is concentrated yet lively, featuring red-berry fruit with hints of spice. The Smith Haut Lafitte red 2004 blend is based on a majority of Cabernet wines, and shows promise of being a great wine: concentrated and powerful, with good backbone, a lovely, silky texture, and a fresh, complex bouquet of ripe red-berry fruit, with spicy, liquorice, violet, and flint overtones. 2004 is truly a successful vintage for good grape-growers.