Wine from Pessac Leognan

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 97 points: 97+ Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Smith Haut Lafitte charges out of the gate with bold expressions of warm redcurrants, baked blackberries and crème de cassis with hints of spice cake, dried roses...

TheWineCellarInsider.com, 99 points: This is a strong candidate for the best wine yet produced by the Cathiard family at Smith Haut Lafitte. The inky color lets you know this is going to be packed and stacked with layers of ripe fruit. But there is more...

Wine Enthusiast, 96 points: (WE94-96 points) This is a powerful, dark fruited wine, with firm tannins and a dense texture of solid, dry tannins that gives weight. A freshness comes through at the end, making this a finely balanced wine.

jamessuckling.com, 100 points: Rose petals, sandalwood and currants with some plums and fruit tea. Full-bodied, tight and focused. Incredibly straight and minerally. Toned muscles here. Tannic. Traditional and unwavering. Try in 2024.

Wine Enthusiast, 96 points: This is a great wine with its swathes of ripe fruit allied to a very structured character. It is concentrated with complex flavors that bring in wood, tropical fruits, apricots and a dense texture. Combined, these...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 points: (95+ points) This vintage is aging at a glacial pace and the tannins are currently more significant than their counterbalancing components of fruit and glycerin. While the word “potential” seems to be the most positive...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 98 points: Deep garnet colored, the 2010 Smith Haut Lafitte delivers notes of baked plums, boysenberries and dried mulberries with an undercurrent of cigar box, new leather and bouquet garni. Full-bodied, the palate has firm, grainy...

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: (93–95) Barrel Sample. The wine, a majority of young Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, is structured and firm with solid tannins and layers of black currant. This will be ready to be drink after 2025.

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: Solid tannins mark this still very young wine. At the same time, the fruit is rich and well proportioned. Black currants dominate the fruity spectrum, giving the wine richness as well as great potential. Drink from 2025...

TheWineCellarInsider.com, 100 points: Intense, deep aromas of earth, burning wood, truffle, hot bricks, tar, licorice, espresso, smoke and blackberry. There is an incredible sense of purity in the fruit. The wine is rich, concentrated and multifaceted. Each...

jamessuckling.com, 96 points: Deeper wine from the get-go with dark violets, mocha, cassis and blackberries. The palate has suave, smooth and sturdy tannins and terrific length. Very polished and seamless with flavors of fresh black cherries...

Vinous, 93 points: (91-93 points) Very good full color. More discreet, brooding aromas of black cherry, leather and smoke, plus a faint burnt quality that characterizes this wine in the riper years. Lovely intensity and purity of fruit in...

jebdunnuck.com, 98 points: Among the whites of the vintage, the 2016 Château Pape Clément Blanc is one of the most concentrated, deep, and full-bodied whites out there, offering up a red wine-like structure to go with beautiful notes of white...

Wine Spectator, 88 points: Good tarry-edged feel, with dark plum and steeped black currant fruit flavors riddled with bramble and roasted-cedar notes. Drink now through 2017. 5,830 cases made. –JM

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: Solid tannins mark this still very young wine. At the same time, the fruit is rich and well proportioned. Black currants dominate the fruity spectrum, giving the wine richness as well as great potential. Drink from 2025...