Winery	Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte
Region	Pessac Leognan, France
Vintage	2004
Type	Red
Grape Varietals	Cabernet Saugvinon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
Retail Price	$49
Rating	7/10

Les Hauts De Smith 2004. Second wine of the esteemed Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte which has its history dated back to 1365. This Chateau was once an under performer until recent times (in the 90s) which saw radical improvements to their winery that shot this Chateau back to fame. Their 2000s as well as the recently 2005 vintage 1st wine was highly rated by Robert Parker.

Eager to find out how this great wine has improved, yet like some like-minded wine enthusiast who like to slowly build up their drinking climax, I decided that I'll go from their 2nd wine first before hitting on to the essence. This wine is actually quite easily spotted on the rack with their prominent french medieval insigna. So most of you would not have issue locating it. I've found that it was sold in Carrefour as well as at NTUC Finesse (Thomson Plaza).

Wine and Gourmet connoisseur would probably lament "what is wine without good food" or vice versa. But for me, sometimes I prefer to appreciate wine on it's own without intoducing other taste into the process...and that's right, you'll probbaly quickly think of whiskey drinker who goes "neat" or the lesser "on the rock".

Les Haut De Smith 2004, was interesting being described as young and bashful by my pal. I couldn't agree more for the initial 30 minutes. The energy of this great Chateau trapped in the bottle, leaped out as the wine was uncorked. Our initial test found tobacco spices, toasted oak and liquorice abundant. However after some breathing, this wine was totally transformed. The earthy-mineral notes of the Graves was awaken. The velvety texture brought forward by a youthful soft grip that otherwise exudes aorma of blueberries, black dates and raisins. The combination of light spicies and some aftertaste of chocolate biscuits completes the well balanced wine. We couldn't agree more that this wine display some interesting dual characteristics, which reminds us of "la dame" blowing hot and cold. Interesting wine indeed. We wonder how Chateau Smith-Haut-Laffitte would fare...  

Tasting Notes:  

• Les Haut De Smith 2004, was interesting being described as young and bashful for the initial 30 minutes. The energy of this great Chateau trapped in the bottle, leaped out as the wine was uncorked. Our initial test found tobacco spices, toasted oak and liquorice abundant. However after some breathing, this wine was totally transformed. The earthy-mineral notes of the Graves was awaken. The velvety texture brought forward by a youthful soft grip that otherwise exudes aorma of blueberries, black dates and raisins. The combination of light spicies and some aftertaste of chocolate biscuits completes the well balanced wine. We couldn't agree more that this wine display some interesting dual characteristics, which reminds us of "la dame" blowing hot and cold.

Food Pairing:

• Chilli seafood, hearty Hainanese lamp stew.   

Available At:

• Carrefour and NTUC Finesse