Although wine has been produced there since the middle of the 14th century, Château Smith Haut Lafitte really came into being in the 18th century with Georges Smith, its founder. As for the name "Lafitte", it comes from the Latin "ficta" ("the stone"), which became "fitte" in Gascon patois to designate a gravelly hillock, similar to that on which the vineyard is planted. Faced with the superb quality of its production, Georges Smith the latter decided to export it to England to satisfy the many lovers of "New French Claret". After several changes of ownership over the next two centuries, and a certain qualitative decline, the arrival of the Cathiard family at the head of the estate in 1990 gave a new lease of life to the production. This is how Smith Haut Lafitte regained, from the following vintage, all its former splendor in the eyes of wine lovers, most of whom were foreigners because the owners continued to favor the export route that was dear to the founder. The estate's vineyard covers 56 hectares, 45 of which are dedicated to the production of red wine. To meet its commitment to excellence, the château now has its own cooperage: it can thus control the barrel-making process. In the same vein, an integrated weather station can be used to prevent the consequences of bad weather on the vines. The château has become one of the pioneers of luxury wine tourism in Bordeaux. And the Cathiard family is also behind the Caudalie brand. The terroir of Château Smith Haut-Lafitte, located in the Graves, is precisely composed of Günzian gravel. These are poor soils of alluvial gravel deposited on a Tertiary limestone base. Here the clay mixes with quartz pebbles and traces of iron oxide. This subsoil is soft enough for the root system to be able to feed on mineral salts and give the plant all the vigor it will need. Château Smith Haut Lafitte produces a superb red Pessac-Léognan from a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon. The vintage has continued to progress until the 2009 vintage, awarded 100 points by Robert Parker. The nose is elegant, generous, marked by notes of black fruits and evolves towards autumnal notes. The palate is superb, concentrated and distinguished. Recent vintages will certainly go very far. To produce this vintage, a careful sorting was carried out and the whole berries are vinified in small wooden vats. The temperature is controlled and the extractions are gentle (manual punching down). The wine is aged in wooden barrels with a proportion of new wood reaching 60%. And this, for a year and a half.