The 2022 Le Petit Haut Lafitte is the second wine of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, the Grand Cru Classé de Graves estate in Pessac-Léognan. In this vintage it’s a 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot blend, matured for 14 months in French oak with 20% new barrels. Several merchants also report 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.7, a low yield of 28 hl/ha, and production around 6,000 cases (with 1,500 imported), pointing to a concentrated, commercially limited release.

Critical reception is notably strong and consistent, topping out at 94 points from multiple major reviewers. James Suckling (94) highlights polish and lift, citing “aromas of currants and blackberries with orange peel and rose petals,” and emphasizing “racy, polished tannins that go on for a long time.” Decanter (94) calls out a “beautiful nose” with a broad register—“blackcurrant, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, tobacco, cherries, crushed stones”—and concludes it is “really impressively constructed” with “good potential.” Jeb Dunnuck (94) frames it as “a powerful, medium to full-bodied, structured Graves offering” with “classic darker, almost blue fruits” alongside “violet, floral, and graphite nuances.” Those are excellent reviews for a second wine, and they agree on both ripeness and serious structure.

Vinous reviewer Antonio Galloni (93) leans into the wine’s darker, more balsamic side, calling it “a rich, heady wine” layered with “dark cherry, plum, licorice, menthol, chocolate, tobacco and incense.” Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth (92) underscores approachability, describing it as “forward” and “accessible now,” with “ripe, succulent flavors of black cherry and black currant fruit paste laced with licorice root, alder and black tea.”

Taken together, 2022 Le Petit Haut Lafitte reads as a confidently built Pessac-Léognan: dark-fruited, oak-framed, aromatic, and unusually well-reviewed for its tier—ready to enjoy young, but not short on stuffing for the cellar.