Information

Château Smith Haut Lafitte Martillac,
33650 Bordeaux,
France.
Tél. +33 (0)5 57 83 11 22

Websites:
www.smith-haut-lafitte.com
www.sources-caudalie.com
E-mail :
visites@smith-haut-lafitte.com

A Fine Bordeaux

On the sacred soil around Bordeaux, we focus on one very special Cru Classé Rouge château in the highly-regarded appellation area of Pessac-Léognan .

Think of wine and you think of Bordeaux. Think of Bordeaux and well, you get the idea. In an uncertain world, here is one marriage which has stood the test of time, and for good reason. Dry statistics alone are hard enough to ignore: around thirteen thousand individual producers spread across more than fifty appellations producing a staggering seven hundred and fifty million bottles per year. Sometimes more. But quantity, as we all know, is one thing; quality is all the others. Yet somehow, by a killer combination of unfair natural advantages and sustained, dedicated hard work, the producers of the Bordeaux region continue to create the great wines by which others, particularly in the New World, must be judged.

History also deserves some of the credit. Productive vines were first established around Bordeaux during the Roman occupation, the wines probably being shipped to Ireland and south-west England by the eighth or ninth centuries. Things really took off, however, after Henry Plantagenet became King of England in 1152 just two months after his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, whereupon most of south-western France fell under English rule for the next three centuries. By the time of King John, regional producers were being offered tax exemptions for any wines sent to England, and ever-increasing quantities were despatched across the Channel for consumption by the more privileged sections of society.

The pale wines which accounted for the bulk of imports at this time soon prompted the adoption of the term 'Claret' - from the French clairet or 'clear' - as the now-familiar English generic term for Bordeaux reds. ' Bordeaux reds?' Well, that's another adopted term rooted more in the port from which they were shipped than from the actual growth areas, many of which lie some considerable distance from the city itself.

Subsequent contributions to the region's commercial success included those of the Dutch, whose engineering skills finally drained the previously marshy Medoc, and from the select group of English and Irish families whose names still grace some of the region's most illustrious châteaux. Initially much less helpful was the insect-borne phylloxera epidemic which devastated the region's vines (along with most of Europe's) from the roots up in 1860. The silver lining in this particular storm-cloud was the subsequent replanting with the Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc varieties (grafted onto disease-resistant Californian rootstock) which remain to this day the backbone of high-quality Bordeaux reds and whites. With the addition of their companions Cabernet Franc, Colombard, Merlot Blanc, Muscadelle and Trebbiano (alias Ugni Blanc), the potential for experimentation became limitless.

So much for history and cépage; the other key ingredients are climate, know-how and, crucially, ' terroir ' - the complex qualities of the regional soils. Nature has provided tantalising variations in both soil and climate across the main growth areas, which include such instantly recognisable names as Médoc, St Emilion and Entre-Deux-Mers. A breather from this ever-popular line-up is provided by the occasional appearance of Côtes de Bourg, Sauternes or Graves, broadening the picture considerably.

The Pessac-Léognan area sits not far south of the city of Bordeaux, on the western bank of the river Garonne. One of the region's most energetic and highly-regarded producers is the 55 hectare estate of Château Haut-Lafitte, which enjoys an exceptional terroir - gravelly, and therefore well-drained, which forces the roots down to a considerable depth to seek water and nutrients. The hard surface stones also reflect the sun back up to the grapes, which ripen evenly and fully. Amongst the first to recognise these special qualities was the noble house of Bosq, which planted the first vines around 1365. The resulting estate was acquired during the eighteenth century by one George Smith, a Scot who constructed the Charterhouse and began exporting barrels of his renowned wines to England on his own ships. Grand Cru status came after Monsieur Duffour-Dubergier, mayor of Bordeaux and a highly knowledgeable viticulturist, purchased in 1856 what had by then finally become known as Smith Haut-Lafitte. In 1958 the estate was purchased by the Maison Louis Eschenauer (who had been charged with handling sales and distribution since the turn of the century), prompting many improvements including the present underground wine storehouse, or ' chai '. Up to this point, then, the estate's evolution had been both steady and relatively conventional.

Then, in 1990 everything changed. Daniel Cathiard, former French skiing champion (and owner of the huge Go Sport chain of sports stores in France, Belgium, Spain and California) and his wife Florence (a former Vice-President of the McCann-Erickson Europe advertising group) sold all their business interests to purchase Smith Haut-Lafitte. Finally able to begin indulging a long-standing passion for Graves wines, the couple soon launched into a two-year transformation of both the production buildings and the eighteenth century Charterhouse, and moved with their daughters Mathilde and Alice into the château which remains the family home.

One of Daniel Cathiard's first decisions was to cease using mechanical harvesters in favour of traditional hand-picking. The pickers use ergonomically-designed hods for their tender harvest, which is then transported in small crates (again, specially designed to avoid bruising and other damage) to a sorting area prior to crushing and pressing. This meticulous attention to detail was sustained by banning chemical weed killers and returning to the traditional weed control techniques of earthing-up the vines and ploughing between the rows. Effective control of vine pests, on the other hand, requires a more modern approach, so in 1992 a meteorological station was installed among the vines to provide real-time monitoring of constantly-changing conditions. The resulting data allows perfect timing and targeting of spraying, cutting pesticide usage by half.

Entirely natural methods alone, however, are employed in the estate's annual fight against grape berry moths. Artificial pheromones are diffused amongst the vines to disorient the males and prevent them finding females, effectively preventing them from reproducing, without using insecticides. The process, perfected by the Bordeaux branch of the Institut National de la Recherche Agricole, is harmless to insects including natural predators of pests.

The crucial influence of flavours imparted by the oak barrels in which the wine is aged prompted the estate to establish its own on-site cooperage. The rationale is that if new barrels are used for second, malolactic fermentation, then the oak tannins which add complexity and roundness are more controllable and better integrated. The choice of oak is therefore of vital importance, and carefully selected fine-grained timber is sourced exclusively from the far-off forests of Tronçais and Nevers. Resident cooper - or ' tonnelier ' - Jean-Luc Itey (named 'Meilleur Ouvrier de France, 1997') is kept busy, producing around four hundred barrels from scratch each year.

All pretty impressive, then. And you have to admire the sheer passion and commitment which underlie this uncompromising approach to every aspect of work on the estate. But what of the wines themselves? Well, the emphasis is, as you would expect, firmly on the reds, with a typical production of 10 000 cases, from 45 Ha of Merlot (35%), Cabernet Sauvignon (55%) and Cabernet Franc (10%). Whites, on the other hand, account for around 2 200 cases, from 10 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc (90%), Sauvignon Gris (5%) and Sémillon (5%). As regards drinking qualities, the reds are, briefly, medium- to full-bodied, fruity and stylish, whilst whites have lots of character, with their elegant peach aromas. Beyond that, I will leave to you the great pleasure of making your own, more subjective judgement.

An interesting footnote to the winemaking activities at Chateau Haut-Lafitte, is provided by the recent addition of Les Sources de Caudalie, the world's first vinotherapy spa. The treatments employ grape-derived preparations designed to make guests feel better and look younger, and generally pamper them. Accommodation is in a four-star luxury hotel, constructed from 18th century materials, with two restaurants offering gourmet meals accompanied, of course, by fine wines. So now you can have Cabernet, Merlot, etc. both inside and out. Total immersion, in fact.

© Words and pictures Roger Moss
This feature first appeared in everything France magazine Issue 1

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