2019 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge Pessac Leognan Cru Classe Bordeaux 750 ml

Not all top-scoring Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux—the kind that will develop beautifully in your cellar for decades—brings the same kind of value. 

The 2019 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Pessac-Léognan boasts a stunning 99-point score from James Suckling, putting it alongside heavyweights like Palmer ($329) and Mouton-Rothschild ($845). Antonio Galloni of Vinous called it a “dense, explosive wine…a powerhouse, to be sure.” It’s a top-class collectible that belongs with the absolute finest bottles in your cellar.

More than 600 years ago, the Du Boscq family homed in on a gravelly plateau that was known locally as “Lafitte,” but the estate has only truly realized its potential since Florence and Daniel Cathiard bought it in 1990. The two have poured time and money into the château, building a new winery and converting the farming to an exacting, organic-informed standard.

In the three decades since they bought Smith Haut Lafitte, the team has focused on individual terroirs and adopted so-called "bio-precision" in the vineyard, using satellites to monitor tiny details. This allows them to time their harvest on a row-by-row basis and sort the grapes multiple times—both in the vineyard and in the winery, where they use high-tech optical sorting technology to ensure that only perfect berries make it into their wines.

Smith Haut Lafitte has even joined First Growth Châteaux Lafite, Margaux, and Haut-Brion as the rare Bordeaux properties with on-site cooperages. It doesn’t get more hands-on than that, and the devotion to quality shines through in every sip.