« For our double anniversary, nature gave us an exceptional vintage. Will it be more similar to the 2010 or the 2005?

Your palate and the future will tell us. »

Florence and Daniel Cathiard - Co-owners

Early, quick and homogeneous budbreak, flowering and

veraison gave us beautiful things for reds and whites.

Slow and complete maturation of small, fresh and fruity

berries with silky classy tannins.

Harvests à la carte under perfect weather conditions.

All the wine growing signs are put together for an exceptional

vintage.

Analysis of the vintage by

Fabien Teitgen - Technical Director

The 2015 Vintage

2015: a new bottle celebrating the 25th Cathiard harvest

and the 650th anniversary of Smith Haut Lafitte since 1365.

A very dry and hot year, an early and homogeneous vegetative cycle, beautiful cool à la fraîche harvest. • Mild winter with average rainfall regenerating ground reserves. • March: warming of the soils with homogeneous and quick budbreak in early April. • April - July: hot and dry weather (50 % of the average rainfall), quick growth of the vine then hydric stress

and early beginning of maturation. • August: rain returns. The rain episodes of the 3rd and 8th of August were very positive, limiting hydric

stress, preserving leaves canopy and therefore the photosynthesis capacity of the vine and bringing freshness to the soils and air.

• Cool, dry and sunny autumn: homogeneous and qualitative maturity of the berries preserving their acidity; calm, serene and exciting harvest conditions.

Climatology

Cool, dry and

sunny autumn

Freshness returns Hydric stress

Measurements performed by Château Smith Haut Lafitte vineyard weather station.

Harvest

Manual harvest under the sun and the freshness of a favourable autumn: we were able to wait for the optimum levels of maturity and quality of the grapes within each terroir entity.

Cabernets francs Sauvignons blancs

Young vines - whites

Semillons

Sauvignons gris

Young vines - reds Merlots Cabernets sauvignons

Petits verdots

2015

Homogeneous and compact budbreak,

flowering and veraison: signs of quality.

Budbreak 10 to 15 April

Flowering last week of May

Veraison whites end July and reds 1st half of August

Major Vine Growing Steps

Cab. Sauv. Merlot Cab. Franc Petit Verdot % New Barrels

Château Smith Haut Lafitte 63 33 2 2 65

Les Hauts de Smith 50 50 - - 20

Le Petit Haut Lafitte 60 40 - - 20

Sauv. Blanc Semillon Sauv. Gris % New Barrels

Château Smith Haut Lafitte 90 5 5 50

Les Hauts de Smith 100 - - 50

Le Petit Haut Lafitte 80 20 - 50

Vinifications

Each terroir entity is vinified individually with a specific extraction work performed. The many wine lots therefore produced are as many reflects of the different terroirs of Smith Haut Lafitte. Hence, such as a painter with a large colour palette, our painting, our blend is complex, precise, classy and faithful to the excellence of our terroirs. The harvest reception areas are well-equipped with advanced vibration destemming and optical sorting technologies associated with manual sorting so that only perfect berries are placed into vats through gravity.

• Vinification of the reds: gravity vatting, fermentation of whole berries in small oak vats at 29°C with manual pigeages, punching down of the cap, ageing lot by lot on the lees for 18 months in barrels.

• Vinification of the whites: direct pressing of the berries in neutral atmosphere to prevent from oxygen contact and preserve full aromatic potential, fermentation in barrels, ageing on the lees 12 months with bâtonnages.

• Average yields: 30 hl/ha for the white vines and 35 hl/ha for the red vines before selection of the different wines.

• Barrels made at the Château’s cooperage with a selection of woods from the greatest oak forests of France.

Blends

Château Smith Haut Lafitte red

Château Smith Haut Lafitte 2015 is a very dark red wine, almost black. The nose expresses a bouquet of black fruits and very fresh and crunchy red fruits: blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries... Through swirling, the nose appears more complex with notes of spices, cedar, liquorice associated with notes of violet and a touch of flint stone. The mouth if straightforward, dynamic, powerful, dense, classy. Tannins are concentrated, unctuous and silky. They give the wine great length and beautiful texture. We find again in mouth the crunchy and ripe fruits and an additional spicier dimension with liquorice, citron, clove and a wonderful finale of floral and mineral notes.

Château Smith Haut Lafitte white

This straw yellow wine brings us straight from the first nose toward an aromatic explosion of white fruits and flowers. Of great complexity, very fresh and delicate, the nose offers notes of citrus fruits, white peaches, pears and acacia flowers. Then aeration reveals spicier aromas of star anise and eucalyptus. After a tense and vivid attack, the mouth of concentration and power appears very well-balanced with a beautiful smooth texture. This wine, with a fresh and elegant aroma palette, offers white citrus fruits, white flesh fruits, sweet spices and notes of flint stones and fireplace very characteristic of our gravel terroirs.

More information on www.smith-haut-lafitte.com

Your tasting notes

20 minutes away from Bordeaux city centre, train station and airport.

Château Smith Haut Lafitte - Grand Cru Classé de Graves - Pessac-Léognan - 33650 Martillac - France

Tel : +33 (0) 5 57 83 11 22 - Fax : +33 (0) 5 57 83 11 21

Commercial contact: l.fradin@smith-haut-lafitte.com - Reservation contact: visites@smith-haut-lafitte.com

Watch the 2014 harvest video

Bio Precision

For 25 years, our Bio-Precision work at the Château has gathered the required tools, techniques and savoir-faire in order to produce wines that are true to their terroir while preserving it: because it all comes from the terroir. After the horse ploughing of fragile plots since 1997, the plantation of kilometres of hedges, the grass-cover between vine rows, the organic compost, the plantation of a rootstock mother vine on the la Lande island, the thorough mapping of the terroir measuring the electric resistivity of the soil, the satellite imagery, the on-board NDVI mapping, the construction of a farm and a Stealth Cellar emphasizing on renewable energies and capable of recycling the CO2 released during wines fermentation… It is today the circular economy that inspires us.

« These are the many initiatives in favour of the environment the United

Nations invited us to present at the COP 21 in Paris in December 2015.

I was very happy to share our experience for the world of wine to get more

involved into our environmentally responsible time. »

Alice Cathiard Tourbier - Co-owner