A brilliant wine, the 2021 Smith Haut Lafitte offers up aromas of blackberries, violets, coniferous forest floor and dark chocolate. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, it's deep and impressively multidimensional, with good concentration, beautifully refined tannins and notable purity of fruit, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. The fruit of a severe selection, this blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot is testament to the Cathiard family's unwavering commitment to quality.

(93-95) points, Wine Advocate (April 2022)

Deep crimson. Mulberry, dark cherry, hint praline aromas with sage herb garden notes. Concentrated mulberry, dark cherry, blackcurrant brambly flavours, plentiful chewy firm tannins and vanilla oak notes. Elemental wine with very good density and richness of flavour. 63% cabernet sauvignon, 33% merlot 3% cabernet franc, 1% petit verdot. 18 months in French oak (30–60% new). 13% alc

(94-95) points, The Vintage Journal (May 2022)

This is a cool climate savoury vintage where the best wines offer clarity of flavour and precision, and you are given a masterclass here in how to do that effectively. Well balanced and succulent architecture, plentiful blackberry, cassis and black cherry fruits, cracked pepper, sage, liqourice, crushed rock, campfire smoke, elongated tannins. This will fatten up over ageing, because has all the elements in place to ensure it does so gracefully, the triumverate of tannins, acidity and fruit. Harvest September 22 to October 14. 60% new oak. 23hl/h yield.

95 points, Inside Bordeaux - JaneAnson.com (April 2022)